Death note
by Huusina
Summary: Kuchiki Rukia, I'm going to kill you. At least a note that Rukia found says that. Is it a joke, or will Gotei 13 have to fight for her life?
1. Note

_**Hello!**_

_**Today I'm starting a new story, way different than the rest I've put here... I already have whole story in mind, it really surprises me how organised person I am sometimes :) Well, this chapter is short and you can take it as kind of a prologue. **_

_**Hope you'll like it, fingers crossed!**_

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><p><em>1.<em>

_~NOTE~_

Since pacifying Fullbringers Soul Society hasn't experienced any serious problems. It went back to its duties of sending there souls and exterminating hollows that appeared in Gensei or Rukongai. Peaceful time came, long unseen, time, that everybody was looking forward to.

Days were slowly passing by, with shinigami getting used to unusual calmness. All issues were cleared, not just with enemies, but also among shinigami themselves.

Everything was so usual and calm, and that was what made Kuchiki Rukia, 13th Division's fukutaicho, really happy. Peace came finally.

At the moment she was walking towards her division's buildings, holding a finished report from her last mission for her taicho. Another thing that made her happy – recently Ukitake-taicho was feeling unusually well.

Rukia continued her walk, lost in thought. She was observing shinigami she was passing. There were students of the academy, discussing their last exam and how handsome is this guy that practiced swords' fight with them that week. In the other place few shinigami were playing cards, boasting about the number of hollows they fought. Walking further, Kuchiki recognized some faces – Kira, Yamada, Matsumoto – all enjoying this less stressful period in Soul Society.

However, she was so distracted that she didn't notice a person coming until she bumped into her.

"Kuchiki-san?" a familiar voice asked.

Rukia wanted to collect the papers that fell on the ground, but the other person did it first. She saw long, orange hair and she recognized the person.

"Inoue" Rukia said surprised, taking her report from Orihime, who smiled in reply. "What are you doing here?"

Inoue looked at Kuchiki, a bit confused.

"Don't you remember?" she said, and, when Rukia shook her head, continued. "I wanted to be useful, like others, you know, and so I took up a work here in Seireitei. I help the 4th Division with prisoners. They often fight, so there's pretty much work."

"They can hurt you!" Rukia almost shouted, but Orihime only smiled again.

"I'm not the only one there" she replied. "Well, we work with different prisoners, but I can call others for help anytime. Besides, I can protect myself with my souten kesshun."

Kuchiki didn't look convinced, but Inoue changed the subject.

"You weren't in Karakura for some time, were you?"

It surprised Rukia to be asked such question, but she just nodded. Orihime looked at her, concerned.

"You miss Kurosaki-kun, right?"

Rukia froze.

"Why..."

"I can tell you two are close" Inoue said. "He's somehow different when you're in Gensei, and you too" she looked away. "You don't have to admit it, it's noticeable."

This time Kuchiki looked away. She suddenly felt quite uncomfortable. She wanted to say something, but Inoue was first.

"I'm sorry, you're probably in a hurry."

"Yeah" Rukia didn't have a good answer in her head.

Unexpectedly Orihime smiled warmly.

"See you soon, Kuchiki-san!"

"See ya" Rukia replied, still a bit confused after the strange talk, and she watched as Inoue went away.

Then she realized she still had the report, so she hurried to the division.

Ukitake-taicho was as nice as always and that calmed down Rukia. After giving him the papers, she decided to head back to her brother's mansion.

She was walking slowly, enjoying quiet streets of Seireitei and the sunset. She didn't think about Orihime's words, instead she started to plan her meeting with Renji the next day.

Suddenly Kuchiki heard a strange sound, but she couldn't clearly say what it was. She ignored it, though, and went forward, but with every single step one particular feeling was filling her more and more.

The feeling that someone spies her.

However, whenever Kuchiki stopped or turned around, nobody could be seen or heard.

When she reached the mansion, she sighed with relief. She didn't understand the feeling, but still, entering the house, she finally felt safe.

Byakuya wasn't here yet, as always working to the late hours in the evening.

Rukia put her zanpakuto on the desk and turned to take something, but then her eyes landed on a piece of paper stuck to the wall.

Her eyes widened and she suddenly forgot how to breathe, when meaning of the words got to her mind.

_Kuchiki Rukia, I'm going to kill you._

She just wanted somebody to come.

Anybody.


	2. Friends

**_A bit longer chapter, hope I will get better in time. _**

**_Rukia saw a strange and scary note. Will there be somebody to help her? Read and review please._**

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><p><em>2.<em>

_~FRIENDS~_

Peace in Soul Society was recently something uncommon. At least from Kurosaki Ichigo's view. Problems were appearing all the time since he became shinigami. That's why he appreciated unusual calmness.

Still, in Soul Society he had many friends, and Rukia among them. She made him shinigami and always was there, to help and with advice. Maybe that's why Ichigo decided to visit her first.

As orange haired boy stepped inside Kuchiki mansion, he knew that something was wrong. He went further, observing everything cautiously and trying to hear anything, but there was only heavy silence. He stepped into the room he remembered to be the main one and finally saw the person he was looking for.

Rukia was on the floor, on her knees, not making any sounds. Ichigo approached her and saw that she was staring at something. She looked extremely scared, or maybe shocked.

Suddenly she noticed the younger shinigami, looking at her worried.

"Ichigo?"

The boy nodded, only to feel her hands clutch on his robes, her head lay on his chest. She was shaking, not able to say anything else.

"Calm down, Rukia" Ichigo said, trying to understand what was going on. "I'm already here."

And so the girl started to calm down. Ichigo hugged her gently and let her take her time. He turned his head to find the thing that scared Rukia so much. Finally, he saw the note.

Ichigo's eyes widened in shock, as he lightly pulled his friend away. However, his shock was quickly replaced with anger. Black haired girl was looking at him, still confused, and substitute shinigami took the piece of paper.

He was looking at the note for a while and finally turned to Rukia.

"It's just a joke" he stated. "A very bad joke."

Rukia only looked away, still not able to stand up. She didn't know what to think about the whole situation. The one thing she knew was that it frightened her terribly, and the other was that Ichigo was there with her, what gave her the feeling of safety. After a moment the boy spoke, making her go back to reality.

"No one's gonna kill you. I'll burn it."

"Don't do it, you idiot!"

Both Rukia and Ichigo looked in the direction from which the voice came. They saw a tall, red haired shinigami they knew so well.

Abarai Renji.

Rukia's relief deepened as she saw another familiar face. She almost smiled when her childhood friend passed her and approached Ichigo. Before the other could react, Renji took the note.

"Are you really that stupid, Ichigo?" he asked, visibly angry.

Rukia looked at the two men, not really understanding lieutenant's behaviour. Substitute shinigami didn't get it either.

"Dude, you don't need to get so mad."

Renji snorted.

"The point is, I'm not gonna leave it like that" he said.

Ichigo glanced at Rukia nervously.

"Look, she's safe..."

"I know she is" Renji interrupted. "I know it's a damn joke and I'm gonna find the fucking person that thought it was funny."

Ichigo and Rukia understood then. Black haired girl finally managed to stand up.

"You don't need to..."

"He's right" Ichigo spoke suddenly. Rukia looked at him. "There's no way we leave it like that."

Renji nodded.

"Look at yourself, Rukia. You were scared so much, all because of a bad joke. We'll teach somebody a painful lesson."

Ichigo smiled, Renji too. Despite safety, Rukia still felt a bit tense, but now she was able to smile.

"You two will never change."

Renji looked at the note again.

"We should take it to 12th Division" he spoke after a while. "Maybe they will find out who wrote it."

Substitute shinigami nodded.

"There's no point in us two going" he said and looked at Rukia. She returned the glare. "I'll stay here with you to make sure you feel well."

To be honest, 13th Division's lieutenant wanted to refused. Before she did that, she realized she wanted one of them to stay, though. She didn't want to stay alone in the mansion, not now, even if there was no danger. She needed more time to recover, to relax fully.

"Then I'll go with the note" she heard Renji and then her and Ichigo's voices, saying "Ok".

Red haired shinigami smiled to Rukia once again, intending to reassure her that all is right. The girl was very grateful for all actions and signs made by both boys.

She and Ichigo watched as Renji went out, heading to 12th Division's buildings. Rukia sat at the table, she felt incredibly exhausted in the moment she relaxed. She knew she needed some rest.

And time to think

Ichigo knew that too, so he just sat next to her and remained silent, obviously wondering about the situation. Rukia appreciated that a lot. She let her thoughts go anywhere, deciding to think about the matter later, when she calms down.

...

6th Division's lieutenant was walking fast. Whole this situation pissed him off. Really. He couldn't actually imagine what might have been considered funny in such note.

Or who could do that.

On his way, Renji was passing many shinigami, despite late hour. He was wondering whether it was one of them. He couldn't control his thoughts, coming up with the worst tortures his brain could create, he didn't want to control them, as it was Rukia's case. Rukia he truly cared about.

As he was walking, Renji noticed three white haori in front of him. He stopped, letting captains come closer, so he could recognize them. After a while he saw faces of Kuchiki Byakuya, Kyouraku Shunsui and Ukitake Juushirou.

"Good evening" Renji greeted them. He felt he should tell them, at least Byakuya.

Three captains, till then discussing something, noticed the lieutenant and greeted him back. Ukitake was the first to look at him more carefully.

"Did something happen?" he asked. Byakuya twitched, noticing the expression on his lieutenant's face. Renji took a deep breath.

"In Kuchiki mansion" he started, catching captains' attention "somebody left the note telling he'd kill Rukia, she was really..."

"What do you mean by that?" Byakuya almost shouted, thing unusual for him. Everyone around looked at the scene.

"It must be a joke" Renji said quietly. "Really, she's ok."

Something in his face told Byakuya to calm down a little. He really cared about Rukia's safety, but still he couldn't understand his outburst. He knew that two captains and Renji wre looking at him worried and he knew that the note must have been a joke. But...

Renji waited till shinigami took their eyes from the four continued.

"When I came I heard Ichigo, he was already there. We decided to take the note to 12th Division, and he stayed with Rukia."

"Good decision" Kyouraku stated. "She shouldn't be alone."

Ukitake thought for a while.

"Kurotsuchi-taichou will surely be able to do something about it. You say you don't know who did this, right?"

"We don't have a clue" Renji shook his head. "Oh" he took out the note. "Here it is, if this helps you."

Captains looked at the piece of paper.

"It is really written here..."Kyouraku started, but was interrupted by Byakuya.

"That's the original one?"

Something in his face warned the rest.

"Is something wrong?" Renj asked tentatively.

Grey eyes landed on him. They seemed to be steel, and hid enormous power of the captain, who now regained his usual calmness.

"That's note paper that only 6th Division uses."

The rest looked at Byakuya.

"Are you sure?" Kyouraku asked. The black haired captain ignored the question.

"2nd Division will guard and observe 6th Division's buildings, letting no one in and out. We will interrogate everyone from my division, no exceptions" he said in tone that didn't tolerate any refusals. "We will find him or her."

"But Kuchiki-taichou..." Renji started, but he stepped back as he met the glare of his captain.

Kyouraku and Ukitake remained silent, but it was obvious that they thought Byakuya was exaggerating.

6th Division's captain looked in the mansion's direction.

"This is an order."


	3. Second

**_Hello, here's chapter 3. I know it's short, but the whole story is planned already and it's hard to change something without ruining it. I hope you'll like it anyway :)_**

**_The interrogation of 6th Division starts, will it help somehow?_**

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><p><em>3.<em>

_~SECOND~_

It's been almost six hours since interrogation of 6th Division started. Although reluctantly, Soi Fon agreed to guard the buildings, now her warriors were everywhere, causing protests among shinigami from 6th Division. Of course they protested even more when they heard their captain's orders.

Renji was sitting at a table in a small, dark room, next to Byakuya. They were questioning shinigami from their division one by one. Renji was already irritated, they should go to 12th Division and not waste time like that. These shinigami didn't know a thing.

Of course Byakuya didn't ask if they wrote a threat for Rukia, only if they "put a note in Kuchiki mansion", while everyone was shocked just at a thought that they could enter _that_ house.

No way.

Renji was pretty sure that whole interrogation thing was a waste of time. Everybody could take that stupid paper from 6th Division's buildings. Telling Byakuya about Rukia, red haired man didn't think that he would exaggerate that much.

"Did you put any note in my mansion?"

Another shinigami was in the room, in front of the two. He seemed to be really startled.

Renji knew him. Rikichi. The one that admired him.

"Did you put any note in my mansion?" Byakuya repeated coldly.

Rikichi flinched.

"I would never..."

"Did you enter my mansion?"

"I would never..."

"It's not him, taichou" red haired man interrupted. He noticed a bit of hope in Rikichi's eyes, but Byakuya ignored him.

"Did you ask anybody to put a note in my mansion?"

Renji felt sorry for the boy. He saw many different reactions to interrogation and he had enough.

"I didn't, never."

Byakuya sighed and looked at his notes.

"You're dismissed."

Rikichi stood up and bowed quickly. Renji led him to the door and opened it.

"Okay, the next is..."

"Let's just stop this!" somebody shouted.

"Yeah, we didn't do anything!"

More and more voices were joining the first, shinigami wanted their captain to end questioning. 6th Division's lieutenant sighed heavily and turned to Byakuya. It wasn't the first time.

"They're right, let's end this."

Black haired man looked in Renji's eyes and taller shinigami knew the answer.

He sighed once again and turned back to his colleagues.

"We're continuing" he stated and heard sounds of dissatisfaction. "I don't have a choice. Eh, the next is..."

"Oi Renji!"

Everybody turned to see running Ichigo. Red haired lieutenant could easily tell that something was wrong, it was in substitute shinigami's eyes.

"Fuck" he mumbled to himself.

Ichigo approached Renji. He didn't have to say anything, Renji let him in and with short announcement "Break" closed the door.

Seeing the two, Byakuya raised his eyebrow. Then he saw serious faces of Ichigo and Renji and immediately his own expression changed.

"What happened, Kurosaki?" he asked.

The mentioned shinigami sat at the table, Renji followed. Captain was still waiting for the answer and Ichigo finally looked at him.

"I went out to check if no one's there laughing, observing or something and in front of the door I found that."

With these words he gave Byakuya a note.

_She will really die._

There was a heavy silence, broken by Ichigo after a while.

"It's no one from 6th Division."

Renji looked at the door.

"They were here all the time."

"Let them go" Byakuya spoke.

Renji did as he was told to, surprising whole division. They kept asking for the reason, but Renji remained silent. Finally, in the building only three shinigami remained. Lieutenant returned to his seat.

"Did you tell Rukia?"

Both Ichigo and Byakuya twitched as they heard the question. Orange haired boy looked down.

"No."

Byakuya looked at the note one more time.

"Good."

Ichigo and Renji looked at him. Black haired captain continued.

"It is no longer a joke and so we must do everything to stop this. Still, I don't want Rukia to do anything stupid or to worry that much. I am going to tell soutaichou about the situation. We will investigate with the rest of the captains and will surely catch the person responsible for this."

"Then only we and captains will know?" Ichigo asked. Byakuya nodded.

"We have to do it quickly not to leave Rukia alone for too long."

He then stood up and left the room. Renji stood up too.

"He's going to soutaichou now, we can go and wait for him" he said, meeting Ichigo's glance. "Hey, I know how you feel. Let's go, it's better than doing nothing."

Orange haired boy nodded, he and Renji went out, slowly heading to 1st Division's buildings. They weren't talking, what could they talk about?

What they both ignored turned out to be a real problem.

Renji knew exactly how Ichigo felt. He felt the same.

So damn stupid.


	4. Blood

**_Welcome back my dear readers! Thank you for all reviews!_**

**_Without more unnecessary words... here's chapter four._**

**_The meeting of captains begins..._**

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><p><em>4.<em>

_~BLOOD~_

"And this is the case" Kuchiki Byakuya ended explaining what happened to Rukia and what he did in the situation. He also mentioned the second note that Ichigo brought and showed both threats.

It was a meeting of captains, a sudden one, and so all thirteen turned up. Now after 6th Division's captain's words everyone waited for soutaichou to speak.

Some of them looked surprised, some angry, some were blinking with disbelief. Kurotsuchi and Zaraki didn't seem to care at al

Yamamoto cleared his throat.

"From what Kuchiki-taichou said I deduce that life of Kuchiki Rukia is in serious danger" he stated.

Twelve shinigami were staring at him, paying more or less attention, but most of them was listening carefully.

"We can't forget that she's from Kuchiki family, one of the four most important families in Seireitei" soutaichou continued. "What's more, she's also 13th Division's lieutenant, and so a very important shinigami. The other thing is that we don't know the enemy, what leads to the conclusion that we also don't know his purposes. The fact that he or she plans killing Kuchiki doesn't mean it's all that he or she wants. In this situation, I want all of you to get involved."

Captains didn't say a thing. Kyouraku sent a reassuring glare to Ukitake, who seemed to be a lot more moved than Byakuya. The rest was mainly looking at the floor now.

"Kurotsuchi-taichou."

The mentioned captain looked at the old man.

"Do you really want me to do something about it?" he asked, causing a spark of anger in Yamamoto's eyes.

"Yes, and you _will_ do it" he replied. "You will take care of the notes. I believe you will have much information on the next meeting."

"Of course" Kurotsuchi said reluctantly.

Yamamoto turned to another captain.

"Soi Fon-taichou, your division will guard Kuchiki-fukutaicho. She can't be left alone."

"Yes."

"Any questions?"

There was a heavy silence and soutaichou sighed.

"You're dismissed."

...

Ichigo and Renji were waiting in front of the doo0r of the room where the captains' meeting was held. They weren't talking, the atmosphere was tense. Something in it suddenly changed once two shinigami heard footsteps behind the wall.

The two turned as the door opened, looking for only one face, ignoring the others and their worried expressions, their glances saying it will be ok. Hirako, no, Komamura, no, Unohana, no...

"Byakuya!"

"Kuchiki-taichou!"

He finally appeared.

Red and orange heads moved fast towards 6th Division's captain. Soon he joined them and all stood silent for a while, hovering expressions on faces of Ichigo and Renji.

Byakuya looked at them.

"Captains are involved" he said calmly and his interlocutors sighed with some kind of relief. "Soi Fon-taichou will take care of Rukia's safety."

"Thank you" Ichigo said unexpectedly.

"For what?" Byakuya asked, narrowing his eyes. "She's my sister."

Ichigo smiled, while black haired man shook his head.

"I thank you too" Renji said.

"Tch" Byakuya stared at the two coldly. "I still have many things to do, you'd better get out of here quickly."

With these words he left.

Ichigo and Renji were about to go too when suddenly they heard a familiar voice.

"You know we'll do everything to protect her."

Both men turned to see Ukitake.

"Ukitake-san..." Ichigo started, seeing his face. His voice became more confident. "So will we, for sure."

Renji nodded and before white haired captain could say a thing, they both left.

...

Kuchiki mansion was closer and closer as Renji and Ichigo were walking. On the way they were discussing captains' meeting, still feeling somehow guilty about the situation. It all happened so suddenly.

How much time did they have?

"At least she'll be guarded" Ichigo noticed, causing a small smile on Renji's face.

"Yeah."

They walked in silence for a while, till Renji spoke.

"Still, I'd rather be with her, just to ensure myself."

Ichigo stopped.

"You're right."

"We can take turns" red haired lieutenant said, and both started walking ahead. "We can make it so one of us will always be with Rukia."

"Yes" Ichigo nodded. "Honestly, I trust you more than whole 2nd Division..."

Renji laughed.

"The same to you."

"Thanks."

"Can I be first?" the taller shinigami asked. "You can change me tomorrow morning, I will have to go to my division then."

"Sure" Ichigo replied. "I can have longer turns, you still have your work."

"I'll be ok."

Suddenly the two men found themselves in front of the door to the mansion.

"I'll go then" substitute shinigami turned back. "Take care of her, Renji."

"That's obvious" Renji said and walked into the building.

It was dark, but he saw Rukia coming into the house by the other door, so she probably killed her time in the garden. 6th Division's lieutenant wanted to call her name, but she noticed him quickly.

"Renji, hi!" Rukia said, smiling warmly, what confused Renji. "What's with that face?"

Red haired man remained silent, so she continued.

"You're here not to guard me, are you? I know it's a joke, I understood that. Let's forget about it, ok?"

_Oh, right, she doesn't know_, Renji thought.

"Renji?"

_She can't know. She'd be panicked, she could do something she shouldn't, she..._

"I already forgot."

Rukia laughed at this. It was so good to see her calm and happy again.

"Can I go to the bathroom?" Renji asked. Black haired shinigami nodded and showed him the right direction.

6th Division's lieutenant headed towards the room. _It's gonna be hard to protect her and not to cause suspicions._

Rukia sat at the table and fixed her hair. She was wondering if Byakuya was going to come back as late as recently, and...

BANG.

Black haired girl turned in the bathroom's direction.

"Renji, did something fall down?"

No response.

Rukia sighed and walked to the room. If he thought she wouldn't hear it...

One more corner and she was there, suddenly feeling a strange liquid under her feet.

_Blood?_

It was the moment when she looked up at the door of the bathroom.

...

Ichigo was leaving the mansion, he didn't really know why he was looking at it for a long, long while. Like a fool, definitely.

He already turned back, again, and started walking, when he heard a loud thud.

He stopped, only to hear even louder scream. Rukia.

He ran to the mansion, barely noticing how dark it was inside. He didn't know where to go, he didn't know what led him to the right place.

All he saw was Rukia and Renji. He somehow knew she was crying, so he hugged her, as shocked as she was.

So now she knew it wasn't a joke.

And he will never forget this dead body on the door, he didn't even want to know now what happened, all he was thinking about was that _he_ was _dead_.

_Renji_ was dead.


	5. Challenge

**_Welcome back and happy Easter! I hope you'll enjoy (and review) the story :)_**

**_In the last chapter, we lost Renji. What will captains do now?_**

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><p><em>5.<em>

_~CHALLENGE~_

Abarai Renji was dead.

Somebody wants to kill Kuchiki Rukia.

These two sentences were being repeated all the time in whole Seireitei. Everybody talked about it and nothing else since the funeral of 6th Division's lieutenant. It was imminent.

But while most of shinigami were discussing who and why killed Renji, wanted to kill Rukia and who would be next, captains of 6th and 9th Divisions were studying the mysterious bathroom in Kuchiki mansion.

It was somehow obvious that Renji wasn't the target, as no one could know that he visited Rukia.

Also, only a glance at the bathroom door was enough to see what had happened.

All doors in the mansion were sliding, Japanese style. Such door was also the bathroom one. Once you open such door, it slips in a special double wall. And here starts Renji's death: in the bathroom, such wall was on the other side too, surprisingly. There was also a strange mechanism. Inside the wall was a stick. The stick and the door were connected by a bar on the floor, so if you opened the door, the stick would move too.

Attached sheer to the stick, there was a sword.

"He had no chance" Kensei stated, glancing at Byakuya. Black haired captain remained silent. "Somebody must have prepared it when your sister was outside."

With these words, Kensei turned to Byakuya and narrowed his eyes.

"_She_ was the target,"

6th Division's captain looked at white haired man.

"I know" he spoke. "That's why I want your lieutenant to do me a favour."

...

_Difficult times came. After a long period of peace, we have an enemy. It's no use pretending that nothing has happened. You all already know that somebody wants to kill Kuchiki Rukia, 13__th__ Division's lieutenant, and that there are already victims, what we can't forgive. We can't let anything more happen. We _will_ find the person who did it and we _will_ defeat him or her. We'll bring peace and justice back to Soul Society. We promise._

_Captains of Gotei 13_

Rukia put "Seireitei Bulletin" back on the desk. She was sitting in her room with Ichigo and Orihime, who just ended her turn in prison. Black haired girl highly appreciated their company. She still couldn't believe that her best friend, Renji, will never come to see her again.

She was feeling so confused. And guilty. _She_ was supposed to die, not Renji.

Renji who knew Bankai. Who could become a captain. Who had future ahead.

And now captains of Gotei 13 decided to fight for her life, ready to die.

"Rukia?" Ichigo's voice brought her back to reality. "Are you alright?"

"Yes" she replied quickly, but seeing Ichigo's worrying look she added "it's just this magazine. I don't want anybody to sacrifice their lives only for me."

"What do you mean, only?" orange haired boy almost shouted. "They want to protect you, they care about you! You know why? 'Cause you're _important_ for them, understand?"

"I..."

"Besides, no one's gonna die" Ichigo reassured his friend and smiled. "Oh, maybe the enemy."

"Thank you" Rukia said, a bit relieved now. "But you really shouldn't smile when you say such things."

Ichigo rolled his eyes.

"Details."

Orihime, who remained silent till then, looked at Rukia and Ichigo and spoke:

"I think I need to tell you something."

Both Rukia and Ichigo looked at her.

"I..." Orihime started, but was interrupted by somebody.

"I heard Inoue-san is here! Is she?"

A tall man walked into the room. Judging by a bag he had, he was from 4th Division. He smiled once he saw Orihime.

"Inoue-san! I know you're turn is over, but could you help us with one thing?"

The girl was noticeably confused, but she nodded and joined the man.

"Kuchiki-fukutaichou, Kurosaki-san" the man looked at the two "sorry for the trouble. And, our division will do everything we can to defeat the enemy, you can count on us!" he said.

Orihime nodded shyly and they both walked out, leaving Ichigo and Rukia finally in better mood.

...

It was late in the evening, already dark. All workers of "Seireitei Bulletin" already went back to their barracks, except Hisagi Shuuhei. He was always the last one to leave the office.

At the moment Hisagi was cleaning the room, as he always did at the end of the day.

He remembered well how surprised he was when he heard that Abarai is dead, that Kuchiki is in danger. He remembered how his captain asked him to print captains' words in the magazine. Words in which they declared a war with whoever wanted to kill Kuchiki.

He was thinking about all those things when he felt a knife lightly touch his throat.

It was so sudden, that the lieutenant literally froze and forgot how to speak. His eyes opened wide were watching every move of the mysterious opponent.

The enemy was dressed in black robes, face hidden in hood's shade, so Hisagi couldn't tell who it was.

He watched as the opponent put an envelope on the desk in front of them. 9th Division's lieutenant saw an inscription on it: _print it in the next issue_.

_Oh my..._, Hisagi thought and froze one more time before he could do anything.

The knife cut slightly, making Hisagi resign from any attack. He knew that this little wound was nothing, but feeling own blood was paralyzing.

And even if only for a while, it was enough for the enemy to disappear.

_If only I reacted..._

_If I did something, anything!_

_I..._

Hisagi touched his neck and looked at the envelope.

It was a message to captains. For sure.

_A challenge._

* * *

><p><strong><em>I'm not sure if "Seireitei Bulletin" is the right name, correct me if I'm wrong.<em>**


	6. Test

**_Hello! (after a really really long time I know...)_**

**_Thank you for reviews, it's so nice to see them :) Oh well, one thing I noticed and have to clear - the title is kinda confusing, eh? I saw some Death Note references in your reviews, and I must admit that there's no Death Note in the story. I'm so sorry, if I made a trouble, it's just... the title refers to the first note Rukia saw, the one that started whole this mess in Seireitei. Hope it clears things and helps... Hope you'll enjoy reading further chapters too :)_**

**_Last time: Hisagi has the criminal's challenge to print in his magazine. Captains' reaction is..._**

* * *

><p><em>6.<em>

_~TEST~_

Captains of Gotei 13 were all in Yamamoto-soutaichou's office, where the special meetings about Kuchiki Rukia were held. And that was one of those meetings. Because the one that killed Abarai Renji replied to captains' message.

_Dear captains,_

_I am truly amazed by the way you reacted. I felt really honoured and, although I had wanted to end it quickly, I decided to have more fun. I'll give you some time to try to find me._

_Let's call it a game._

Captains have been looking at it and reading it over and over again for about half an hour, obviously furious and astonished by the bold message.

"That's unimaginable!" Komamura stated, looking angrily at the rest. "This arrogant... doesn't respect us at all!"

"Worse thing is, we only complicated the situation" Ukitake sighed. "And we still don't know..."

"No, it's even better" Byakuya cut in, causing Ukitake to frown. The rest turned in dark haired captain's direction. He cleared his throat. "As long as there are no further victims, it's better. It's a chance to _find_ him or her."

There was a moment of silence, while captains were thinking about words that Byakuya said.

"I agree" Outoribashi said suddenly.

Soon the rest of the captains agreed too and the meeting moved on.

Then Yamamoto-soutaichou nodded at Kensei.

"So" he started, getting captains' attention. He had some notes with himself and he was searching through them while talking. "We've already interviewed Hisagi, but it didn't give us much. In fact, he didn't see who attacked him, besides the person didn't say a word. Also, Hisagi's wound isn't serious and we don't have to worry about that." At this point, some captains sighed with relief. Kensei continued. "We strengthened the guard of editorial office of _Seireitei Bulletin_, and there is no more to do in the case."

"What about the evidence?" soutaichou turned to Kurotsuchi, who winced and took his own notes.

"Of course we examined both notes and the mechanism in Kuchiki's bathroom, but whoever is responsible for it didn't leave any traces. We did everything to find some, by all available means, but it was impossible. Our reports are here" Kurotsuchi took out a giant book. "I have to admit that the crimes were... eh, perfect."

"Are you kidding me?" Soi Fon spoke suddenly. "We haven't made any progress!"

Captains looked at the irritated woman, and Zaraki smiled.

"This is how it ends when you leave work to Kurotsuchi."

"What are you trying to say?" the mentioned captain shouted, feeling offended.

"Oi, oi" Hirako said calmly. "Please don't fight while I'm thinking of a great plan."

Now all captains looked at Hirako, speechless. He glanced back at them, pleased that he was getting some attention finally. He then sighed, trying to gather his thoughts.

"So?" Yamamoto narrowed his eyes, making Hirako smile.

"So, my plan..." he started. The blonde captain truly believed his plan would work, and he tried to find the best words to make the rest understand. "We'll organize a test about the murder of Kuchiki Rukia."

Everybody looked at Hirako, shocked.

"It's not a game!" Kensei burst out. "We're trying to save..."

"Please continue" Kyouraku spoke for the first time, fixing his hat. Kensei glanced at him with a flash of anger in eyes, while 8th Division's captain only smiled to him.

"We have to think of numerous yes/no questions" Hirako went on with his idea. "Something like: is it planned by Kuchiki clan enemies? Questions considering things like why Rukia-chan, who could do this, and so on" he explained, and added "but _only_ yes/no questions. Of course the test will be written by everyone, the day after tomorrow."

"Is it really important when?" Unohana asked kindly.

"Actually, it is" the blonde captain responded with a grin. "Because tomorrow we'll show questions to everyone."

"Are you crazy?" Outoribashi turned to the captain standing next to him. "What's the point of the test if you know questions?"

The others agreed and horrible rumble started. Hirako sighed, observed by few confused shinigami who weren't arguing.

"It's crucial" he said finally. "Just trust me."

The rest didn't look convinced. Hirako looked at Hitsugaya, hoping for agreement. He noticed that so far the young captain was only listening. Noticing the meaningful glare, white haired shinigami sighed.

"What else can we do?" he asked. "If there are better ideas, I'm all ears. If not, shut up and write questions."

Hirako smiled thankfully, getting only an irritated glare in response, as captains calmed down and looked at the shortest one. Hitsugaya didn't really enjoy being the centre of attention, but did he really have a choice?

At least they did something.

...

Opinions about "the murder test", as inhabitants of Soul Society called it, were various, there were almost as many as souls in Seireitei, counting all workers and prisoners too. However, everybody wrote the test without questions and Kurotsuchi along with some members of 12th Division prepared the results in few days. They were in a big computer in Kurotsuchi's office, so captains met there to discuss the test.

The reason why captains hurried to the meeting, because they did, was the fact that they were curious what Hirako wanted to achieve with his plan. When shinigami sat at the table, in front of the computer, Yamamoto-soutaichou nodded at 5th Division's captain, allowing him to speak. This time, also Ichigo attended the meeting.

"I believe you wondered mostly about the reason why I wanted everybody to know the questions before the test" Hirako started. Some of the captains nodded, but remained silent. "In fact, the questions themselves aren't important at all."

"Huh?" Kurotsuchi turned red immediately. "We spent hours working on them!"

"And now you just say they don't matter?" Kensei almost stood up.

Their words didn't seem to affect Hirako, though.

"I've already said that what's important is the fact that everybody knew them" he stated calmly.

"But..." Ichigo wanted to say something, but Byakuya silenced him with a gesture, so he gave up.

"I don't care what they all think about the situation" Hirako stated casually and leaned over the table, a special flash of determination appeared in his eyes. "I only want to find out who's guilty."

That statement caught attention, and captains more interested in the situation leaned over the table just like the blonde one did.

"If you're guilty, you want to seem innocent, right?" Hirako continued. "When you know the questions earlier, you can discuss them with the rest. This way, you know which answer they choose more often. And on the test, you can choose this answer. Doesn't it make you seem innocent?"

"It does..." some captains whispered, now they all were listening carefully.

"It does, when you look at answers in traditional way. It changes, if you don't care about the answer's value, meaning. In this case, when you look at one answer and you see somebody chose the mostly chosen answer, it's ok. But" Hirako raised a finger "if you look at all twenty questions and the answers are only the mostly chosen ones, isn't it strange?"

All captains were staring at Hirako, directly in his eyes, totally concentrated.

"Of course" the vizard added "there will be some individuals that really chose like that, but among them, there _is_ our murderer."

Silence was the only response to his words, as shinigami were thinking about the plan all over again. Then, they understood.

Hirako sat back in his chair, observing the reactions, proud of himself.

Suddenly, Kurotsuchi moved quickly to the computer, hitting the keyboard hard. Immediately, the attention moved to 12th Division's captain. After few minutes, Kurotsuchi turned to the rest.

"Now you'll be finally pleased" he said. "Basing on the results, I've just made a list of people who gave _only_ the most frequent answers."

"This means... we have suspects now" Hitsugaya said slowly.

"Incredible deduction, Hitsugaya-taichou" Kurotsuchi replied ironically, but the young captain ignored him.

"How many?" he asked instead, almost in the same time as Byakuya and Ichigo.

12th Division's captain showed the screen of his computer to the rest.

"256."

Everybody turned to soutaichou, waiting for decision. Yamamoto looked at the list and then closed his eyes.

"Spy them."


	7. List

**_Welcome back my dear readers! I know I haven't been there for quite a long time and I'm really sorry! In order to apologize, here's a double update - one letter and one DN chapter! Hope you like it!_**

_**PS. I know this chapter is horribly short, but it was hard even to write this, so... please forgive me. I'll have more time now since holiday start in Poland on Friday and I'll do my best!**_

_**Last time: Finally some suspects appear! Are we closer to the answers?**_

* * *

><p><em>7.<em>

_~LIST~_

As Yamamoto-soutaichou demanded, all 256 people from the test have been spied. The division responsible for this was the second one and it was somehow obvious.

Soi Fon took her mission very seriously, but a week passed and nothing happened. All suspects were behaving normally and naturally, generally – they haven't done _anything_ suspicious.

In the last issue of "Seireitei Bulletin" captains asked everybody to contact them if they notice something suspicious. It was the time when captains themselves started questioning Hirako's plan.

The mentioned newspaper was laying on a table in Kuchiki mansion. Kurosaki Ichigo and Kuchiki Rukia, who were there, had just read the article about the murder.

It was rather depressing news – a proof that captains' efforts weren't enough in this case. News even worse for Rukia, as she always longed for information, recently forbidden to leave the house. Whenever Ichigo came round to see her, she asked the same question, asked if something happened, but the answer also was always the same.

That nothing changed.

The other thing was that Ichigo tried to avoid the tough subject every time he was with Rukia. Of course, this time wasn't different.

"Recently Riruka came back to Karakura" Ichigo said, taking the magazine from the table and putting it in a drawer so Rukia couldn't see it.

Of course she knew his tricks, how he tried to make her forget about the whole case, at least for a moment. The black haired girl let him do it, not because it helped, in fact it didn't, but to make him feel better. She knew he wanted to do something for her and it was his way to, in current situation. To be honest, she felt better too, just by thinking Ichigo does something for her.

"I met her a couple of days ago" the orange haired boy continued. "Looks like she dealt with the events from earlier. She seemed to be quite happy, honestly speaking."

"Some good news finally" Rukia sighed. "It would be interesting to see her again."

Ichigo turned to his friend.

"Then when you're ban is over, we'll visit her."

Rukia seemed to ignore his words. She looked down and seemed to be deep in thought.

Substitute shinigami knew this state. As hard as he tried to find a good subject to talk about, he couldn't help it. Rukia always found something she could connect with the murder, not necessarily aware of this. Still, every time Ichigo came, at some point she "disappeared" from the talk like that, depressed and thoughtful.

Ichigo has already learnt that when that happened, he should leave her alone and so he did this time.

As he went out, he moved in the direction of Byakuya's rooms. Although there was almost no improvement in the mystery, the calm captain always had something interesting to tell, something that left Ichigo with tonnes of reflexions and new views on the case. What's more, Byakuya was perfectly informed about captains' actions, as he was one of them. Ichigo was allowed to attend captains' meetings, but he couldn't make it sometimes since he had a life in Karakura.

Ichigo quietly stepped into Byakuya's office. What he saw wasn't what he expected.

First thing that substitute shinigami felt as he came in was a haori, laying rumpled on the floor and touching his feet. Then he noticed Byakuya, leaning over his desk and looking at something on it.

With an insane look in his eyes.

It wasn't normal. Byakuya almost never got mad visibly. His hair was in mess and he seemed to be shaking a bit. From anger, maybe?

Ichigo didn't know how to react. It just... it was hard to imagine such a scene. Yet finally he stepped to the table cautiously, too curious about the cause of such change in the captain.

Then it hit him.

That it must have been connected with Rukia.

Then Byakuya lifted his head and looked directly in Ichigo's eyes. The orange haired boy looked down instead, to find the newest issue of "Seireitei Bulletin" on the desk.

With _the list_ printed.


	8. Correspondence

**_Welcome back and thank you for your wonderful reviews!_**

**_Today I give you another chapter of Death note. It's longer than the last one :) Read, enjoy and review!_**

**_Last time: The list of people spied by Gotei 13 is printed in Seireitei Bulletin! What will Ichigo and Byakuya do now?_**

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><p><em>8.<em>

_~CORRESPONDENCE~_

Ichigo shifted his gaze from the magazine to Byakuya.

"These are all 256 people we spy" he stated. "How...?"

Byakuya looked away with a sigh.

"Somebody must have obtained the list somehow" he said after a while. "But only captains, you and spies knew about it."

"Then one of the spies is a traitor."

"Exactly."

They looked at each other again. Byakuya was already calming down.

"There's no use in spying now, since we don't know which spy is on the enemy's side" he said and sat at his desk. He then took the Seireitei Bulletin and put it in a drawer. His look hardened. "Somebody from the list _is_ guilty, otherwise that wouldn't happen."

Substitute shinigami knew it too. He scratched his head, thinking about what to do.

"Maybe we should go to the editorial office" he spoke.

"Well, the list was printed there" Byakuya replied.

Both men left the mansion. The black haired captain told his sister that they would work on the case, though he didn't mention the newest problem. Rukia didn't ask a single question, still a little depressed.

Byakuya knew he couldn't lose her, not after Hisana.

Thanks to shunpo, he and Ichigo arrived at the editorial office fast. The room, in which Seireitei Bulletin was always prepared, was not crowded, much to Byakuya's surprise, as he remembered the place to be very hectic.

It was a large room full of paper. Books and archival issues of the magazine filled every shelf and drawer, and there was plenty of them in the editorial office. Some shinigami were sitting at desks, writing something on computers, some were discussing current problems of Soul Society.

Ichigo remembered that Hisagi Shuuhei, 9th Division's lieutenant, was responsible for Seireitei Bulletin, but he couldn't see the vice captain anywhere.

"Can we talk to Hisagi-fukutaichou?" substitute shinigami asked a person that was checking some materials. Byakuya walked up to them to hear the talk.

"Oh, Kuchiki-taichou, Kurosaki-san" the man noticed the guests. "About Hisagi-san... it's impossible to contact him now."

Byakuya's eyes narrowed.

"What do you mean by that?" Ichigo asked.

The editorial office worker started browsing some notebooks he had on the desk.

"I mean that you can't talk to Hisagi-san now" he replied dispassionately. He seemed not to care at all. "He's on vacation or something."

"Vacation?"

"I never heard of that" Byakuya cut in, not allowing Ichigo for an outburst.

"It was kind of sudden" the man said calmly, leaving his work for a while and looking at the captain.

"What about today's issue? You printed important data that shouldn't have been revealed" Byakuya started. "Didn't you have to inform Hisagi-fukutaichou? Where did you get the list, first of all?"

The worker scratched his head.

"It's a strange thing, whole this list case" he said. He finally looked at least a bit interested. "Somebody brought it here yesterday evening and said that Hisagi-san wanted us to print it, so we did. That's all."

"Were you here then? Who had the list?" Byakuya continued questioning.

"I was, but... it was dark and the person wasn't characteristic. I didn't know the guy. But..."

Both Ichigo and Byakuya saw he was hesitating.

"Hisagi-san... has been acting strangely lately" the man said after a while. "It was the guy from yesterday who said Hisagi-san is on vacation. The truth is, we don't really know where he is, what is he doing. We just do our job."

"I see" Byakuya sighed. The guy looked nervous, so different than at the beginning. "Thank you for information."

"Contact us if something happens" Ichigo added. The man nodded.

"Your name?" Byakuya asked.

The worker came back to his papers.

"Suzuki Tarou."

Substitute shinigami and 6th Division's captain moved towards the door. Ichigo turned for the last time.

"Hey, don't worry." Suzuki Tarou lifted his head, hearing Ichigo's voice. "We'll find him."

...

"That's all we know for now" Byakuya finished relating visit in the editorial office.

"What do you mean, Hisagi disappeared?" Kensei shouted. He looked nervous and uncertain.

Kurotsuchi laughed loudly.

"You don't know where your lieutenant is? Congratulations! Soul Society chooses its captains amazingly!"

"I saw him two days ago, everything was ok" 9th Division's captain ignored his colleague.

"The guy from Seireitei Bulletin said that Hisagi-san hadn't been behaving as usually" Ichigo noticed.

"Not with me" Kensei said immediately.

"Stupidity and blindness of commanders" Soi Fon commented, closing her eyes. "That's why we still lose soldiers like that."

"If Oomaeda-fukutaichou was lost, you'd grin and not do a single thing to find him" Hirako cut in and fixed his tie, not honouring the rest with his glare. "That makes you the last person who can comment that situation."

"Oh, what makes you think you can offend me like that?"

Short woman wanted to walk up to the irritating blonde, but captain Unohana stopped her, gently grabbing her arm.

"I don't think we have time to argue" she said calmly.

Soi Fon came back to her place.

"For me, it doesn't matter who noticed Hisagi-san's strange behaviour. What's important is the fact he disappeared" Unohana continued, waiting for the atmosphere to improve. "I'd think about why he disappeared, where is he, what is he doing and whether he was kidnapped or cooperates with the enemy."

Kensei looked like he wanted to say something, but remained silent. Unohana was right. Who knew if Hisagi was on the right side?

In a couple of minutes captains calmed down.

"Let's see... the only thing that connects us with the enemy is Seireitei Bulletin, right?" Hirako finally went on with the meeting.

"Yes" Kyouraku took some notes. "He or she was messing with the magazine before."

"We should observe the editorial office then" Outoribashi noticed. "There's a chance that the enemy will come back."

Captains nodded.

The silence that appeared was broken by Komamura.

"Maybe we should contact the enemy through the magazine" he suggested, getting attention from the rest of captains. "He or she contacts us that way, after all. Besides, if the contact lasts for some time, the enemy may make a mistake."

"There's also possibility that we'll find out something about Hisagi" Kensei added. "And chances to meet the enemy will increase. He or she will have to convey messages somehow."

Ukitake frowned.

"Do you have any idea of how long it can take? To find out anything?" he stopped for a while, and looked on the floor. He hesitated a little, but finally continued. "Abarai-kun is already dead. I don't want this to happen twice."

Last sentences made the rest hesitate. Ichigo looked at the white haired captain, his pain after Renji's death still fresh. He understood Ukitake's objections, in fact, he was also worried about the method.

But he knew one more thing.

"Still, it's the only idea we have."

Exactly.

Now everybody looked at Byakuya, who said these words. The atmosphere got worse again. Captains hesitated, they weren't convinced to the idea.

Ukitake knew _he_ made them doubt the plan. The only plan.

"Then let's just go on with it."

More or less eagerly captains agreed to the plan and started writing a message to the enemy, which they wanted to print in Seireitei Bulletin.

Soutaichou was observing them carefully, wondering whether they will ever find the enemy or not.


	9. Riruka

**_Te-hee! Finally a new chapter!_**

**_Thank you for all your support on the way. This one is one of the longest (if not the longest) chapter so far. Hope you like it, I had much fun writing it due to one riddle thing you'll find in. Never had to think so much while writing before... :) Have fun, if I can say that about a story about crime._**

**_Last time: Captains decide to "keep in touch" with the enemy for hints. Will they be succesfull in that?_**

* * *

><p><em>9.<em>

_~RIRUKA~_

Ichigo was standing next to Byakuya, it was another meeting of captains and, to his annoyance, he couldn't concentrate.

He was exhausted. It turned out to be quite difficult to bring together his duties in Karakura, regular visits in Soul Society and his school life. Ichigo hasn't been feeling well recently, not to mention how rarely he slept well.

And his organism found the worst time to protest.

The enemy finally replied to captains' message and they were thinking over his words. Although they were very preoccupied by the whole case, Ichigo caught some worried looks in his direction and a few difficult to define glances of Byakuya. It wasn't helping, quite the opposite, this sympathy annoyed the orange haired teen and, in result, it was even harder to focus. Ichigo caught himself on predicting who will look at him _that_ way next.

And it was crucial to concentrate.

Since the message from the enemy turned out to be quite confusing.

HAVE you **eaten** _apples_ this year? **They** are really GOOD, you WOULD feel **way** better, IF you **know** WHAT I _mean_ – _your_ LIST isn't **that** big deal, SERIOUSLY. **You** won't avoid HER _death_, after all.

This was printed in Seireitei Bulletin, and captains already spent hours wondering about the sense of the message. Well, to be honest, captains didn't expect the enemy to play games like that, they hoped for a mistake, a blip. Instead, they received a message causing more questions than answers.

"I can't look at it anymore" Hirako finally said, leaning back in his chair. Captains and Ichigo were sitting at a large table in one of 1st division's buildings.

The others sighed, some nodded.

"This whole hard-thinking atmosphere is gone" Kyoraku agreed with the vizard, browsing Seireitei Bulletin. "Let's call it a day and leave work for tomorrow."

Some murmurs started, but shinigami knew they needed rest, and in the end all agreed to the idea.

Kensei was the last to leave the room, still trying to get the meaning of the message. He hoped for a hint, even if the tiniest.

To find Hisagi.

He had to find Hisagi.

At the same time Byakuya and Ichigo entered the Kuchiki mansion.

"Welcome back" Rukia greeted them, inviting them further and trying her best to smile. "How was the meeting? I'll make tea and you'll tell me all."

Recently she's been trying out a new method to deal with the difficult situation she was in. She pretended that the whole case was about somebody else, and, as she claimed, it helped her greatly.

Her brother watched her silently as she left the room, while Ichigo sat heavily in one of the chairs. Byakuya soon sat in another one and looked at substitute shinigami seriously.

"What do you think about that?"

Ichigo glanced at him, confused.

"About what?" he asked. Byakuya turned back to the door.

"Rukia's behaviour."

Orange haired boy turned away, tapping his fingers on the desk next to his chair. His interlocutor was still staring at the door, waiting.

"You can't suppress your emotions like that for a long time" Ichigo finally spoke. "She won't handle it."

Byakuya sighed and Ichigo knew that the black haired man just confirmed his own assumptions.

They spent several minutes in silence, waiting for Rukia to come back.

Soon, she appeared at the door, holding a tray with three cups of tea. As Ichigo saw her, he noticed that he almost fell asleep, in only a couple of minutes. Knowing he shouldn't, he jolted from his seat and almost ran to help his friend, trying to get rid of the need to sleep and hoping that Rukia didn't notice. Her eyes, however, stated that she did.

Raven haired girl took away the tray in the moment Ichigo reached for it. He looked at her, surprised, but the short girl ignored him and angrily put it on the table. Substitute shinigami reluctantly went back to his seat. In meantime, Rukia placed cups of tea in front of him and Byakuya. Then she took the remaining one and sat in a chair next to Ichigo. She looked at him again, and, again, she saw a flash of tiredness he wanted to hide so badly.

"Don't you think you push yourself too hard?" she asked finally.

Byakuya narrowed his eyes, looking at orange haired boy, as if he was signing under Rukia's question. Ichigo, on the other hand, didn't seem to be moved at all.

"What do you mean?"

13th division's lieutenant huffed.

"Don't play all cool" she said. "Your life along with duties in Karakura are pretty tiring, yet you're still coming here. If you took a break, everything would be fine."

Ichigo straightened up.

"Fine?" he said blankly. "Fine?" he gritted his teeth. "Nothing would be fine. You know how I want to help!"

"I don't want any help that could turn out bad for you!" Rukia shot back, but Byakuya silenced her with a gesture.

He then turned to Ichigo, who, surprised at first, was already getting ready to reply.

"In this state, you're not help at all" black haired noble stated firmly. Ichigo looked at him, taken aback, and met his cold glare. "No, not even that, you're a distraction. A distraction, since all captains instead of focusing on the case are wondering whether you'll stand on your own feet till the end of the meeting or not." Substitute shinigami winced, but he knew Byakuya was right. "I suggest you stay in Karakura for at least few days. I _can_ take care of what is going on in Seireitei."

Rukia already calmed down and both she and her brother sighed with relief, when Ichigo finally nodded in agreement.

...

Although he still had most of his duties, Ichigo noticed that even this slight change helped him a lot. He took all enemy's messages with him and he was intensely thinking about them, but even if he still was _tired_, he wasn't completely _exhausted_, as before.

Inside, he blessed Byakuya for his uncompromising attitude.

He still couldn't get used to the thought that he had free time. He was now having a walk and he was almost relaxed. Ichigo sighed and stared up at the sky, despite his break from the case wondering about how to help Rukia.

Orange haired boy didn't pay much attention to the road, then it was just a matter of minutes when he bumped into someone.

He stepped back.

"Oh, I'm sorry" he said quickly, visibly embarrassed.

He looked up and his eyes met a surprised hazel glare.

Ichigo blinked.

"Riruka?"

Cherry haired girl blushed.

"Ichigo...!"

He smiled.

"Fate, isn't it?" he asked as she calmed down. "Would you like to drink coffee with me? There's a nice cafe on this street."

Riruka sent him an it's-not-like-I-care glare.

"I can go."

...

As Ichigo said, the cafe turned out to be really nice. It was rather dark, deep red and brown, with wooden furniture and many little figures and frippery everywhere. This all along with a specific but nice, hard to catch smell of incense gave it a magic atmosphere and made it cosy.

Substitute shinigami and fullbringer sat in a corner hidden from other clients by some big plants. They were drinking earlier ordered coffee while Ichigo explained Rukia's case to Riruka, showing her all messages from the enemy, both notes and articles from "Seireitei Bulletin".

In fact, at first Ichigo hesitated whether to tell his cherry haired friend or not. However, inside, he hoped she'd see something he missed. That was why he _almost_ relaxed on his break, he subconsciously couldn't leave the mystery unsolved.

By that, he meant the last message and as he supposed, it quickly caught Riruka's attention.

"That's the newest one" orange haired boy said, watching the fullbringer study the message. "If you have any clue about what it means, go ahead and say."

Riruka glanced up from the papers, a bit surprised.

"Shinigami have no idea...?"

Ichigo shook his head. He then pointed the message his friend was holding.

"We're all tired. Besides, these fonts are distracting."

Riruka leaned back in her chair.

"Then just read it out loud."

"It makes no sense anyway" Ichigo sighed. "I mean... _Have you eaten apples this year?_ What kind of shit is that?"

Cherry haired girl's eyes went back to papers in her hands. They widened, only for a while, in shock. Riruka quickly took another message and put it on the desk the empty side up. She then started searching for something in her bag until she took out a pen.

Ichigo looked at her confused, while Riruka was quickly writing something.

"What you-" he started, but the fullbringer almost hit him with a piece of paper she was writing on.

"_That_ is the first thing you should have done. Read" she demanded and added, noticing his weird look, "I separated all fonts."

Ichigo's eyes lit with understanding as he took the paper from her. He looked at it, covered with a neat handwriting of his friend.

_1. Capital letters_

_Have good would if what list seriously her_

_2. "Normal" letters_

_You this really feel better isn't deal won't all_

_3. Letters in bold_

_Eaten they way know that you_

_4. Underlined letters_

_Year are you you I big avoid after_

_5. Cursive letters_

_APPLES MEAN YOUR DEATH_

Riruka sighed at the sight of shock on substitute shinigami's face.

"I can't believe you didn't make out this" she stated and took a sip of her coffee. "It doesn't clear much, but at least we know that he – or she – actually _wanted_ to convey the message."

She put her elbow on the table and leaned her head on her hand, staring at Ichigo with rising impatience.

"Are you listening to me?" she asked and her gaze met his.

His sudden smile baffled her, and to shock her even more he rapidly stood up, his chair screeching horribly as he pushed it. It drew attention of other customers.

Riruka looked at Ichigo with sudden urge to tell him to sit down and blushing madly.

"Ichi-"

"Thank you" he almost shouted, and she narrowed her eyes with resignation. "Really, Riruka... I owe you now."

She sighed again before finally smiling back.

"Yeah, yeah. Go to Soul Society."

Ichigo sent her the last charming, beloved by her smile before running to save Rukia.


	10. Disintegration

**_Finally a chapter! You had to wait long... but here it is! I hope that now I will have more time to wtrite. We'll see... I'll do my best :)_**

**_Now, enjoy the story!_**

**_Last time Riruka solved the mystery of the strange message! What will be captains' reaction to the news...?!_**

* * *

><p><em>10.<em>

_~DISINTEGRATION~_

Think.

Think.

Think.

There must be a hint.

Somewhere, there _must_ be.

"Damn it!"

Kensei was wandering along the banks of the river, thinking about everything that has already happened, mostly – what happened to his lieutenant. Although they haven't been working together for a long time, Kensei became quite attached to Hisagi. The young man always impressed him with how serious he was about his responsibilities and how Kensei could always depend on him.

And although the captain didn't want to admit it, he felt guilty that he hadn't seen Hisagi's strange behaviour, that he hadn't done a thing to prevent his disappearance.

He was planning a huge scale search, but he wasn't sure of the other captains' reaction. He didn't know if the enemy would react to something like this, and if so, how dangerous the reaction would be.

The doubt was killing him and he desperately wanted to do something.

Kensei almost didn't notice a small butterfly that appeared meanwhile. It flew to the captain, making it clear that there was a message to convey.

However, as soon as Kensei got to know there was a captains' meeting, something else caught his attention.

His heart almost stopped beating as he felt it go up to his throat. The view before him left him speechless and for a minute or so his eyes just trailed the way of a horribly familiar body floating on the surface of water.

Hisagi was slowly going with the flow, laying in the centre of the river. His face was incredibly calm, he looked like he was only sleeping. Deep inside, somehow, Kensei knew that his sleep would last forever.

The hell butterfly hit him lightly, but the captain continued to stare at the peaceful figure.

When it hit him again, he flinched and realised he should move. His body reacted itself to this sudden impulse and, still not really thinking, Kensei found himself bursting into the water, desperately trying to catch his lieutenant.

The moment he finally got to him, he realised that Hisagi won't wake up indeed.

...

"...And the real message seems to be _apples mean your death_" Ichigo said, showing the captains the sheet of paper on which Riruka was writing just a few hours before. It was now terribly smeared, as Ichigo made notes and marked many things while explaining.

The others were thinking over what he just said. Although Riruka, as a Fullbringer, more of an enemy than a friend to Soul Society, wasn't any kind of authority, the captains couldn't deny that her argument was logical.

"_Apples mean your death_, huh..." Hirako scratched his head and looked Ichigo in the eyes. His tone then became serious, as he voiced everybody's doubts. "It doesn't give us much."

The substitute shinigami sighed.

"I know."

The atmosphere was heavy, just like on every meeting recently. Ichigo almost ran there, excited to reveal what Riruka came up with, but captains' cool reaction made him face reality.

What his friend found was, indeed, almost nothing.

But why the hell would the culprit care to write such a message? To make them lose time to solve it? To make a mess in their heads? Probably.

Ichigo was crumpling the paper in his hands, feeling all the captains' glares. He was trying to think of anything to prove that the hidden message meant something.

He inhaled deeply, gathering his thoughts.

Then the door swung open.

Everybody turned around to the source of the loud thud. A wide streak of light came from the door, revealing dark, giant figure of Muguruma Kensei. He was breathing heavily and his face expression was a mix of anger and surprise. His whole body was trembling. Noticing this, captain Unohana moved forward to find out what was the cause. However, she stopped almost immediately as Kensei shot her a glare.

Utter insanity – was her first thought as she met his eyes.

"What..." Byakuya started, but Kensei interrupted in a noticeably broken voice.

"He's dead."

Nobody dared to say a thing. Captains and Ichigo were staring at Kensei, and Kensei was shifting his gaze from one face to another, not really recognizing them in his current state. Then, he could be classified as scary, or insane. The silence was unbearable, but the shinigami just kept staring.

The tall, white haired captain stepped back.

"Dead. Like Abarai."

With everyone concentrated on Kensei, no one really noticed the little change in Byakuya's expression.

"Dead."

Kensei was now whispering, and it was even worse, sending an unpleasant shiver down Ichigo's spine. His mind couldn't put words "Hisagi" and "dead" together. He wanted Kensei to leave. He couldn't take another death. He wanted to _tell_ Kensei to leave.

Just then, when Ichigo wanted to open his mouth, Kensei said something else.

"I quit."

Ichigo blinked.

He quits?

Is he serious? How? Why? I mean, I know why, but... I don't get it. I... He can't. He can't.

"You can't."

Ichigo didn't even notice that he said it out loud. Everybody twitched at the sound of his voice. Meanwhile, Kensei's attention shifted to the orange haired boy, but substitute shinigami already overcame the shock after Kensei's words.

"You can't quit like this" he claimed sternly. "Are you giving up like that? Your co-worker, friend dies and you quit? You fucking..."

"Mind your language" Kensei interrupted, his glare competing with that of Ichigo. "The fact I quit doesn't mean I give up. I'm just telling you all that I'll find and kill the culprit myself, because you do absolutely nothing! Go ahead, let more people die, I'm out of it!" with these words, he left.

Ichigo was speechless. He wanted to talk back, but he couldn't find right words. Suddenly he felt a warm hand on his right shoulder. He turned to face captain Unohana. She smiled reassuringly, but her eyes were full of concern.

"He's not himself now" she said. A couple of captains nodded. "He must think it all over, calm down, we all must."

Substitute shinigami barely nodded, turning back to his notes. He was aware that he reacted too harshly, but it was all so sudden, and...

The atmosphere in the room was heavy. Too heavy. Sudden news of Hisagi's death made the captains forget completely about the little victory which was solving the mystery of the last message the culprit sent. The awkward silence didn't last long, though.

Soi Fon pushed the notes aside and looked firmly at Yamamoto.

"Kensei is right. We're getting nowhere."

Outoribashi crossed his arms.

"We're losing people. I'm afraid I must agree with Soi Fon-taichou. We've done nothing."

Yamamoto didn't react. He closed his eyes and started thinking. Soi Fon che'd, annoyed.

"This is how we work!" she said ironically. "Look what we've done so far! We're keeping a girl closed for twenty four hours a day! We lost two high-ranked shinigami! One captain already left us and our culprit can do whatever he or she wants with our oh so great magazine!"

She laughed humourlessly.

"We've made a list of suspects, yes. The list that the culprit printed in the _Bulletin_! We understood a mystery message, yes. The message that didn't have sense at all!"

Soi Fon looked like she wanted to continue proving that captains' actions were ineffective, but Byakuya looked at her with his steel eyes.

"Stop it."

The woman's eyes narrowed, she was ready to shoot back.

"Kuchiki's right, stop it."

Everybody turned to Zaraki, surprised that he spoke. The mentioned captain glanced at Byakuya and then at Soi Fon.

"We all know it all has no sense" he claimed. "I don't care what will happen to the Kuchiki girl."

Captains froze in their actions.

Ichigo looked at Zaraki in utter disbelief.

"I don't care either" came a response to what was said before.

Kurotsuchi.

Now captains started outshouting one another, saying who cared and who didn't, what they did and what they didn't do, what they should or shouldn't do.

Ichigo didn't hear them. He couldn't believe his ears. He looked at Byakuya, seeking support, but the captain was just calmly listening to the rest, no emotions on his face. Ichigo gritted his teeth and looked down, not knowing what to say.

Renji, Hisagi and now this. He didn't know what to say. He just wanted to protect Rukia, nothing more.

He was so happy coming there with some good news, and now...

"End of the meeting."

Ichigo looked up. Yamamoto just announced the end of the meeting. Captains froze again, stunned.

"You can't end..."

"End of the meeting" Yamamoto repeated and looked Ichigo in the eyes. "We won't work together from now on. Every captain that wants to do something about the case can do it on his own."

Ichigo was taken aback. He wasn't sure if he heard correctly. However, without a word of objection, shocked and a bit unsure captains started leaving the room, going past the startled orange haired boy.

He more felt than noticed Ukitake stopping next to him and Byakuya.

"Don't worry, Ichigo-kun, Kuchiki-taichou" he spoke softly. "I will help you no matter what... surely there will be more of us..."

"Thank you" Byakuya said calmly, Ichigo nodded.

The next thing his mind registered was Byakuya's firm grip, leading him out of the room.

Yamamoto sat heavily on his chair when everybody left. He sighed, thinking about everything that happened during the meeting.

Soon his lieutenant, Sasakibe, approached him. Shinigami was standing beside Yamamoto all the time and decided to voice his doubts.

"Why did you do it, sir? It's..."

"Sasakibe" Yamamoto started, he sounded old and tired. "I did it so they know they can't do it alone. Sooner or later" he glanced at the door, "something will happen that will make them all gather again and work even harder."


	11. Team

**_I haven't uploaded for so long... and I'm giving you a short update... I had a horrible time and spent days (literally) writing this. I'm really sorry, I'm doing my best. Hope you'll enjoy the chapter..._**

**_Last time: Hisagi dies and the captains stop their cooperation! What will happen now?_**

* * *

><p><em>11.<em>

_~TEAM~_

Ichigo and Byakuya walked to Kuchiki mansion together, but both of them were silent. There was no reason to start a talk anyway. What could they say? That everything got even more complicated?

Furthermore, Ichigo's mind was occupied with only one thought.

What they would say to _Rukia_.

It was already difficult to cheer her up, as if she no longer believed she could be saved. Of course, she denied when asked, but her eyes lost the spark from before and it was noticeable.

The orange haired boy ran his hand through his messy hair and noticed that Byakuya stopped. Snatched from his thoughts, Ichigo looked up and sighed. They reached the mansion.

Byakuya hesitated a bit, but finally stepped into the house confidently. Ichigo narrowed his eyes; pretences.

He followed the captain silently, trying to keep his face emotionless. He heard some noise from the inside – Rukia must have heard they entered. She didn't hurry, though, not like after first captain meetings, when she wanted to hear all news at once.

Ichigo and Byakuya met her halfway to the room. Rukia smiled at them half-heartedly, motioning them to go further. She herself left them to prepare tea.

She came back a couple of minutes later, when they already sat comfortably in one of the rooms. Rukia distributed the tea and sat too.

"Any news?" she asked. Ichigo could tell she was hesitant – there was uncertainty in her voice that the fruitless investigation taught them all.

Ichigo looked at Byakuya, but the other was just staring at his tea, leaving explanations to the orange haired boy. Substitute shinigami looked back at Rukia, who was patiently waiting for an answer.

"Well" he started, not really knowing what to say. He averted his gaze and heard Rukia sigh with resignation. He was terrible in announcing bad news.

"Hisagi-fukutaichou was found dead" Byakuya said, seeing Ichigo's hesitation.

The orange haired boy looked at him, feeling both annoyance and relief that the other decided to explain things himself.

Rukia turned to her brother, speechless.

"The incident caused a conflict between the captains" he continued, looking back at her. "In the end, they are no longer working on the case officially."

_Quite brief_, Ichigo thought, but stayed silent. Byakuya glanced at his cup, gathering his thoughts and turned to his sister again.

"Furthermore, the meaning of the last culprit's note was discovered. It says that _apples mean your death_. I don't know how to interpret it, but I advise you to be careful."

Byakuya stood up with Rukia's gaze following him. Ichigo was looking at the floor.

"It's not as bad as it seems" the captain said, trying to sound as emotionless as possible. "I am sure there still will be captains ready to help us, so don't worry that much."

He looked one last time at Rukia and exited the room, leaving her and Ichigo alone.

Substitute shinigami finally found enough courage to look at her, but regretted doing so only seconds later. She looked even smaller than usual, and even weaker. She was staring at him with her big, round eyes, not able to believe in what she heard just yet.

But Ichigo couldn't say that Byakuya lied, no matter how much he wanted to.

After what felt like forever, Rukia lowered her gaze. She sighed heavily in defeat.

"I hoped there'd be no more deaths" she said quietly. "But I think that deep inside I felt there would be." She bit her lower lip, her voice was shaky. "I don't want people to die because of me, I don't want any conflicts because of me" she continued weakly and on the verge of tears, "but…"

Rukia made a pause and looked at her hands.

"_I_ don't want to die either."

Ichigo noticed that her shoulders started trembling; she was crying. He stared at her, slightly panicked, as he wasn't the best in cheering up. He tried to think of what to say, but nothing came to his mind.

Rukia kept on crying, and he was still wondering what to do, feeling more pathetic than ever. Finally, not knowing the right words, he simply walked to her and hugged her. She immediately buried her face in his chest and embraced him tight.

Ichigo stayed with her until she calmed down, and it seemed that it was the best thing he could do at the moment.

…

Isolated from the rest of shinigami (with a very few exceptions) and temporarily removed from her position of the 13th division lieutenant, Rukia didn't have much to do. She hated it; such situation led her to wander around the God knows how big mansion endlessly, with nothing to do but think about the danger she was in. It was a straight way to despair or insanity.

In attempt to avoid this, Byakuya fired the gardener that worked in the mansion and she started taking care of the garden herself. Soon she realized that watering plants and feeding koi carps could calm her down. She could spend whole days in the garden, and there was always some work waiting for her.

However, after what she had heard the previous day, even this place ceased to help her.

Rukia worked around the flowers as always, but couldn't really concentrate on the task. Her mind was constantly invaded by thoughts like "there's nothing I can do" or "more people will die because of me". She felt terrible, hopeless and useless, still in the internal conflict she told Ichigo about the day before.

It was almost midday and she didn't do much. As she noticed she was watering the same plant for the third time, she decided she'd better head back to the mansion before something bad happens to the garden because of her lack of attention.

She barely found herself inside the building when she heard some voices.

_Strange_, she thought. _Only Nii-sama and eventually Ichigo should be here._

She went in the direction she heard voices from, curious. She put the watering can aside on her way and after a moment she got to the living room.

Rukia stepped inside and immediately stopped, astonished.

With Byakuya and Ichigo, Ukitake Juushiro, Kyouraku Shunsui, Hitsugaya Toushirou, Hirako Shinji and Unohana Retsu were in the room.

It seemed that they felt her presence, because everybody turned to her. First thing that Rukia noticed, though, was the bright smile on Ichigo's face, one that she hadn't seen in ages.

She stared at him in surprise as his smile grew even wider.

"We're going to work on the case. I take it you'd like to join us?"

She couldn't help but smile back. Byakuya was right.


	12. Break-in

**_Last time: a new investigation group was formed! What will be their first step? Hope you'll like the chapter!_**

* * *

><p><em>12.<em>

_~BREAK-IN~_

Ever since the official investigation ended, people who wanted to work on Rukia's case were meeting in the Kuchiki mansion. Rukia herself was now under protection of 6th division, whose soldiers observed the mansion both day and night, not leaving their position even when Byakuya was there. Other captains that were involved in the investigation ordered their soldiers to do research at the river where Hisagi was found, but they weren't particularly successful.

Another problem showed up on the very first meeting, while the newly formed group was briefly looking over all the evidence once again. Even though they had every note the culprit sent and every message that was published in Seireitei Bulletin, the most important thing, _the list_, was still existing only in 12th division.

When Yamamoto-soutaichou ordered the end of the investigation, nobody really thought about it, too shocked by the decision. Of course Kurotsuchi didn't join Ichigo and Byakuya in their private investigation and all the data stayed hidden in 12th division's buildings and computer systems.

It was clear that at the moment the list was the most important and since Kurotsuchi didn't seem to give it soon to the investigation group himself, the group decided to take it themselves.

That's how one day 12th division's captain started his work with a greeting from no other but Byakuya Kuchiki.

His face showed disgust at the very same moment he recognized the person paying him the visit.

"What do you want, Kuchiki?" he asked, not even trying to hide his irritation.

Byakuya, however, kept a cold expression on his face and decided not to be bothered by the other captain.

"I need the list of suspects in Rukia's case," he said calmly. "As you don't take part in the investigation, you don't need it anymore."

Kurotsuchi only snorted and gave out a couple of commands for his subordinates, complaining about his vice-captain Nemu all the way. Byakuya waited patiently as the other captain assigned some tasks for different groups of shinigami until finally Kurotsuchi turned back to him and looked him in the eye.

"I don't know where it is and I don't have time to look around," he said. Byakuya frowned and opened his mouth to say something, but Kurotsuchi added, "and as you said before, I don't take part in the investigation, so I don't care about it anymore."

An evil smile appeared on his lips as he stared haughtily at Byakuya. The other only narrowed his eyes.

"Useless as always."

Kurotsuchi didn't respond to the offence and only watched Byakuya triumphantly as he turned away and left the building empty-handed.

…

"Are you kidding me?! I'll kill this idiot!" Ichigo shouted and it took all of Rukia's strength to hold him back so that he wouldn't attack the nearest person.

"Ichigo…" she spoke softly, tugging at his robes. "It's not nii-sama's fault, don't lash out at him please."

The orange haired boy stepped back eventually, but kept glaring at everyone in the room, as if it could change something or magically send a threat to Kurotsuchi.

Byakuya fixed his haori and nodded slightly to show he understood Ichigo's anger and didn't blame him for anything.

"He didn't have any reason not to give you the list," Kyouraku scratched his head. "He may not want to help, but I didn't think he would make whole case even more difficult."

Rukia sighed inwardly, still holding Ichigo, not sure if he wouldn't get angry again. She joined the investigation team the moment she was given the offer, eager to finally be able to actually _do_ something in _her_ case, not just sit idly and wait for the culprit to kill her. All this happiness and motivation from the new possibility went away far too quickly, when she realized what was the work on her case like – endless obstacles and almost no going forward.

"Seriously, who made him a captain?" Shinji slammed his fist on the table they all sat at, bringing Rukia back to reality. Ichigo, who previously stood up furious, sat back on his chair and she let go of him only then. "He'll doom us all one day."

"That idiot doesn't even think about what he's doing. He's now probably laughing that he caused us trouble," Toushirou added, making Unohana sigh in slight irritation.

"Are we really going to spend whole day cursing Kurotsuchi-taichou?" she asked calmly and both Shinji and Toushirou immediately straightened up, realizing their immature behavior.

Ukitake looked seriously at Byakuya.

"Our priority now should be retrieving the list though."

The only response was heavy silence, as everybody perfectly understood that the white haired captain was right.

And that it only made everything much harder.

Everyone started wondering about possible solutions, but to no avail. With Kurotsuchi as 12th division's captain, there was no possibility of persuading or threatening, much less relying on his good nature or mercy.

There _was_ one more option, however.

"We have to break into the 12th division barracks," Ichigo stated finally.

No one even tried to object. It was the only idea they had, and as much illegal as it was, they had to put this particular plan into action.

Unohana and Ukitake settled their gazes on the table, clearly unhappy with the remaining solution, yet not questioning it. Byakuya also refrained himself from commenting, despite his attitude towards breaking the law. The rest looked at Ichigo, waiting for his next words.

"It's not like we'll get the list from Kurotsuchi anyway," substitute shinigami said and the others nodded slowly, as they were fully aware of this. "We don't really have a choice."

They knew this, but it didn't make the plan any better, it'd still be a break-in. Ichigo sighed at the sight of unsure and frowning faces around him.

"I know we're talking about a captain here and there may be some serious consequences if something goes wrong," Ichigo continued, "that's why I'm ready to take the risk myself. I'm not fully considered as a part of Soul Society, I don't belong to any division, so eventual problems wouldn't cause me as much trouble as it would to any of you."

Shinigami absorbed his words. They made sense.

"Are you going to do this alone?" Rukia asked, worried. She didn't like the thought of Ichigo facing Kurotsuchi like this.

The orange haired boy immediately turned to her.

"Well, it's safer that way."

"What if you meet someone?" Shinji inquired, looking him directly in the eyes. Ichigo returned the look and furrowed his eyebrows.

"I'm strong."

The 5th division captain raised an eyebrow and leaned back in his chair.

"Aren't we a bit arrogant now?" he teased and leaned over the table, his stare suddenly becoming serious. "Unluckily for you, I won't let you go there alone. Luckily for you, I don't care about my position that much and I'll go there with you."

Ichigo stared at Shinji, while others started to protest slightly, but the blonde captain dismissed them with a simple gesture.

"Oi, that's my decision, respect it," he said and smirked. "Honestly, I don't like Kurotsuchi and it would certainly be a shame if we lost someone like Rukia-chan, wouldn't it?"

Byakuya narrowed his eyes at the Vizard, but it already seemed the captains were going to agree in the end.

Ichigo locked his gaze with Shinji's, showing him a triumphant smile.

"It's decided then."


	13. She

**_Hello dear readers! Thank you for all the suport. Your faves, follows and reviews make me really happy :) Now when I look at my profile, I can't believe I updated so much during the last two weeks. It's a rather good thing, I believe..._**

**_Anyway, this is longer than usual chapters, so I hope you like it. Enjoy!_**

**_Last time: Investigation group decides to steal the list of suspects! Will they be successful?_**

* * *

><p><em>13.<em>

_~SHE~_

Ichigo glanced back once again, but still there was no one in sight. _I'm panicking too much_, he thought and followed Shinji further into 12th division premises. It was the middle of the night and only guards were around, but the two successfully managed to avoid all of them so far.

It was the night they put their plan into action and, if everything went smoothly, they were going to retrieve their list of suspects. Urahara had equipped them with a detailed plan of 12th division earlier and it helped them greatly. They were tiptoeing through a maze of corridors and streets, passing by barracks and other buildings, but they at least knew where they were. Even if they didn't know where the list was, being somehow oriented in the area was a big help, and they were thankful towards Urahara for providing them with the map.

Ichigo and Shinji decided to head to the archives, where the list would be most likely. They found the right building fairly quickly. There were two guards in front of the door and the invaders hid nearby to think of a plan. Not much time passed, though, when the plan came to them itself.

From where they were hiding, Ichigo spotted two lone figures walking in the direction of the archives. They were armed and there was no doubt that they were going to replace the other guards for the rest of the night.

It was a chance that wouldn't appear again. Ichigo tugged Shinji's sleeve and the other's eyes shined instantly when he noticed two shinigami going in their direction. Ichigo wanted to come out and attack them immediately, but, stopped by Shinji, could only watch as the blonde captain casted a spell that made the guards fall to the ground silently, losing consciousness.

As orange haired boy admired the kidou used by Shinji, the other got rid of his haori and they both took weapons and headwear from the two unconscious men and hid them in a nearby barrack.

"Now we should be safe even if we meet someone inside," Shinji muttered, but Ichigo didn't reply and only motioned for him to go.

They made their way to the main entrance of the archives and successfully replaced the other guards who didn't suspect a thing and left them to finally go to sleep. The captain snickered at how easy they were to deceive and even listed a couple of Kurotsuchi's bad sides other than incompetent subordinates. When the two guards disappeared from their sight, Ichigo and Shinji entered the building.

They found themselves in quite a big room. It was really dark, but from the little moon light that got in through a few small windows they managed to see a couple of computers and other machines, probably used for data concerning the archives. Substitute shinigami carefully closed the door behind him as Shinji stepped forward, obviously looking for other rooms. Ichigo soon followed his companion.

On the other side of the place was another door and, after closer inspection, shinigami found out it was the only door other than the entrance. They opened it without hesitation, only to reveal a narrow, long corridor. Its end disappeared in the dark, but the men could see countless doors on each side of the corridor. Shinji sighed and rolled his eyes with frustration, while Ichigo stared at the walls with eyes opened wide. He couldn't imagine checking all the rooms that awaited them behind the doors.

…

"I'll be fine! She's my friend!"

Rukia looked at her guard again, slightly irritated by his stubbornness. For the last fifteen minutes she tried to convince him to let her go on a meeting with Inoue the latter asked her for. To no avail, as the guard turned out to be very serious about his duties, even though Inoue was rather well known in Seireitei and, what's more, known as a positive character.

"Rukia-sama, please understand me," the shinigami in front of her said, just like many times before. "I'm responsible for your safety and Kuchiki-taichou told me that I can't let you go out, no matter what."

The black haired girl only narrowed her eyes, as her guard kept glancing at her nervously.

"I'm sure you don't want to get hurt, Rukia-sama," he continued. "All of this has its reason. I can't let you meet anyone apart from investigation group, it's too much of a risk. The person who wants to kill you can be anywhere! Not to mention it's the middle of the night, which makes it even more dangerous. I know your friend doesn't want you to get caught, but…"

Rukia sighed and sat heavily on one of the chairs in her room.

"It's not like I'd go alone," she replied. "I'd take you with me."

The guard didn't look convinced. He was still fairly young and dreamed of a career in 6th division. Taking care of Rukia was like an honor and he took the task seriously, especially since it involved someone's life. He ruffled his hair and looked at the girl skeptically.

"Still…"

"I'm 13th division's lieutenant, I'm not weak. And you'll be there. Don't you believe in your own abilities?"

The guard looked away. The black haired girl surely had some arguments, plus it wasn't like her question didn't hurt his pride. He knew that they argued over a simple meeting with a friend, but he had been given orders not without a reason.

He casted a glance in Rukia's direction. She was watching him intently and looked quite annoyed. He sighed in resignation.

"Don't take too long," he said and her eyes immediately lit up. "We have to go back before Kuchiki-taichou wakes up."

…

The only sound in the big room was the rustling of sheets of paper and the only light was the flickering ball that Shinji conjured up with his kidou. He and Ichigo were sitting in a huge library they found behind the first door. No one was there; only endless shelves with books and archives. They already spent too much time there, but they didn't know what else they could do – they had to find the list.

The two rummaged through the papers hurriedly. The ones they found in the room were referring to current times, so they hoped they would find the list there. It was possible, but their enthusiasm weakened with every book they checked.

"These files are about something else, too," Ichigo stated, putting another sheets back on the shelf. He glanced at the other to see that his search was also unsuccessful. "I don't think we'll find it like this. Let's use a computer, they surely have data on that."

Shinji threw him a glare and opened a different book.

"I may not like Kurotsuchi, but his not _that_ stupid. Of course there are passwords and I don't think you know them."

The orange haired boy realized that the captain was right, but still wanted to talk back. Before he managed to speak, though, both men heard a sound that made them instantly turn to the door.

Somebody was coming.

"Who can it be?" Ichigo asked in a whisper, while he and Shinji hastily put all the books they took back on shelves, too shocked to remember that they had the guards equipment for such situations.

"I don't know, maybe someone was working here all that time," the other replied, irritation clear in his voice.

"Do you think your kidou came off already?"

"You think that may be the guards we left outside?"

Ichigo looked at the other seriously instead of a reply and the blonde cursed quietly. The substitute shinigami turned around quickly, desperately looking for a place to hide. Shinji started thinking of a way to deal with the intruder without making a fuss when Ichigo saw it. He nudged the captain in the ribs.

"There's another door," he whispered, pointing somewhere behind them.

Shinji didn't need to be told twice. The two left the few books that were still on the table and rushed to the door, already hearing the other door opening. Without second thoughts, they hurriedly stepped into whatever room was on the other side and quickly closed it. They immediately leaned on the door, trying to hear whoever was there. _I hope he'll leave quickly_, Ichigo thought. _It's not like someone couldn't leave the books after work, right?_

The shinigami heard a couple of footsteps, but nothing more. They didn't know what to think of it as they desperately tried to hear anything else.

When they finally heard a sound, however, it was not from the other room, but from behind.

"Well, well, well," they heard a mocking voice. "Just look who's there."

Both Ichigo and Shinji turned around instantly, only to find themselves face to face with no other than Kurotsuchi Mayuri, the captain of 12th division.

In the first moment, they were speechless. The very person they needed to avoid, the very person that _made_ them come here for the list in the first place, stood in front of them with an evil grin on his face. The two exchanged worried glances – their mission was a failure.

"I'm wondering, what are 5th division's captain and substitute shinigami hero doing here, in my archives?" Kurotsuchi asked, as if he didn't know all along. "I understand if you come to visit me during the day, but sneaking here like this in the middle of the night? I don't think you had good intentions…"

The way he made fun of them made them want to attack him right then and there, but they knew they were in no position to. Instead, they could only glare at him.

"Stop this, it's pathetic," Shinji hissed, while Kurotsuchi obviously had the time of his life.

"Oh, but why?" he replied. "It's you who's pathetic, coming here like that."

Ichigo gritted his teeth, refraining himself from strangling the other.

"What are you doing here at that time?" he asked and Kurotsuchi laughed at him.

"The question is what are _you_ doing here, Kurosaki," the captain replied and his gaze suddenly hardened. "I won't let you two go now," he spoke menacingly, "not when finally some of the people who annoy me the most made such a big mistake."

Ichigo and Shinji narrowed their eyes, having bad feelings about it. Kurotsuchi's smile only grew wider.

"You're so going to pay for this visit."

…

Kiyoshi, Rukia's guard, was scanning the area around him and the girl as the two made their way towards the meeting place. Rukia also was looking around. There weren't many shinigami, since it was so late, but they still needed to be cautious, not only because of the danger Rukia was in, but also not to be recognized on the streets. It was common knowledge that the black haired girl wasn't allowed to leave Kuchiki mansion and the two would be in trouble if they were found out.

Soon, they left Seireitei and entered Rukongai. Inoue chose a secluded place, stating it would be safer, but the two couldn't help but not like the thought of a meeting somewhere far away from Kuchiki mansion.

"It's here," Rukia whispered to her guard after some time and Kiyoshi stiffened. He was ready to fight any time, his sword already in his hands.

After a few more steps the two saw Inoue, standing in the middle of a meadow. She had her back turned to them. The girl must have felt their presence, but didn't move, waiting for them to come closer.

"We're perfectly visible here, Rukia-sama," Kiyoshi muttered to the lieutenant. "I don't like it."

She ignored his words, though, and walked up to her friend.

"Inoue," she spoke with a smile, "why did you want to meet me?"

Inoue jumped slightly as she didn't expect Rukia to already be right behind her and bit her lower lip.

"Who's with you?" she asked.

The black haired girl dismissed the weird feeling that for some reason settled in her stomach and glanced at Kiyoshi, who seemed incredibly tense.

"That's my guard. I couldn't leave my house without him."

"I see," Inoue replied quietly.

They stayed silent for a while and Rukia stared at her friend, worried. Just when she decided to speak, she heard quiet sobbing and, surprised, realized it was Inoue who started crying. She immediately lifted her right hand to touch the other, but Inoue chose this moment to finally turn to her.

Rukia stepped back because of the sudden motion and looked at Inoue's tear-stained face. The other girl was shaking and couldn't stop crying anymore. She stared back at Rukia with nothing but sadness and regret in her eyes.

Rukia already knew just why she wanted to meet her, but didn't want to believe it.

"I'm so sorry, Kuchiki-san," Inoue said, her voice weak and shaky. "I'm so sorry… I-I wanted to kill you."

The black haired girl shook her head, telling herself that Inoue was joking. She couldn't see her anymore, because Kiyoshi immediately appeared in front of her, successfully blocking her from Inoue.

But Inoue couldn't do this, she would never do this, Rukia kept telling herself, not able to hold her tears anymore.

* * *

><p><em><strong>I just realized I'm a really bad person. Two cliffhangers, seriously?<strong>_

_**Please don't kill me.**_


	14. Sword

**_Hello everyone! Thank you for all the reviews and follows :) I'm not going to write much there, just wanted to let you know that after this chapter, there are like 5 left. Just so you know :) I hope you'll enjoy the story till the end._**

**_Last time: Orihime states she was the one who wanted to kill Rukia. What will happen to her now?_**

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><p><em>14.<em>

_~SWORD~_

The case of Inoue Orihime was known throughout the whole Seireitei. The fact that _she_ wanted to kill Kuchiki Rukia was something not many wanted to believe, but when it was followed by Inoue being locked up in the White Tower, shinigami accepted the sad truth.

After her meeting with Rukia, Orihime followed her and Kiyoshi to the 6th division barracks without complaints and ready to face captain Kuchiki. She told him the exact same thing she told Rukia earlier – that she wanted to kill the girl. Byakuya was furious and asked about Renji and Hisagi, to no avail. Orihime didn't give answers and didn't respond to anything being said to her.

It seemed that she closed herself from everything around her after the shocking confession and literally no one was able to talk to her. She was silent whether interrogated, threatened, bribed or approached calmly and patiently, she didn't utter a word when shinigami decided to lock her up in the White Tower and when they finally did so, as a kind of precaution.

Orihime always kept her gaze to the ground and didn't react to anything, with the workers of the White Tower barely able to make her eat and drink. They – just like everyone else – weren't sure if this was remorse or something different that led her to such a state.

The problem was that the captains couldn't do much as long as she wasn't talking.

Speaking of them, somehow after the 'Inoue incident' all captains started working together again, led by Yamamoto. That meant the list was once more available for all the captains whether Kurotsuchi liked it or not and, what enraged the 12th division captain even more, the case of Ichigo and Shinji breaking into his division was cancelled for the captains to focus completely on Rukia. Especially since the 'crime' was caused by this particular case.

Another furious person was Byakuya, completely disappointed with Kiyoshi. The young shinigami didn't have any argument in his defense and could only nod silently when his captain announced him that he lost his position and, what's more, Byakuya's trust. Kiyoshi had been fairly depressed ever since, much like Rukia, who knew that Kiyoshi's situation was her fault. Moreover, she still couldn't get over the fact that the person they were after, the person who wanted to _kill_ her was Orihime. She wasn't able to understand just why the girl would do that. On top of that, she was strictly forbidden to leave the mansion once again and her brother strengthened the protection of the house even more.

…

That night, the usual silence of corridors of the White Tower was disturbed by quick footsteps. The sound resounded all over the place, but the person that stormed into the building didn't care about being noisy.

The guards of the place were rather surprised when the captain walked past them but didn't ask a single question as he was, well, a captain. Besides, his angry features were enough to keep them quiet and to give them a clue about _why_ he was there.

It was obvious that Kuchiki Byakuya wanted to pay a visit to Inoue Orihime.

He headed straight towards her cell with long, heavy steps. His haori and hair were floating freely around him and there was a dark, dangerous aura around him.

He cursed quietly, for the nth time thinking over everything that the girl – who even he would consider innocent at the very first thought – did to his sister and whole Soul Society. He couldn't help but grit his teeth at the thought of losing his lieutenant. They may not have had the best of the relationships, but Byakuya had to admit that Renji was indeed cut out for his position and that the captain could feel safe with him around. With time he also grew attached to the ever annoying red head and considered him even a friend, maybe. Not to mention how important he was to Rukia and how… cruelly he was murdered. Then there was Hisagi and the whole case with Seireitei Bulletin that created chaos all over Seireitei. The quarrels between the captains, the tension and fear in Soul Society, his and many other people's torn nerves and above it all, the will to kill Rukia. What for? Why? These questions appeared in his head over and over again, but Byakuya couldn't find the answer. What could have pushed a girl such as Orihime to do something like this? She killed people and, dear God, she was ready to kill more. Here came another question though – why would she suddenly confess that she was the culprit? Byakuya didn't know. Being so close to Rukia, Orihime could have easily ended it all a long time ago, but she didn't.

He wanted answers. He _needed_ answers and the damn girl refused to talk.

Lost in his thoughts, the black haired captain didn't even notice when he appeared in front of the door to Orihime's cell. He sighed and his face expression came back to its usual cold self. He closed his eyes for a moment and pushed the door.

Byakuya entered the room silently. It was completely white and empty, except for a tall (also white) chair. Once he got into the cell he faced its back, as its front was directed at the only window in the cell, or more like a big hole in the wall.

He knew that Orihime was there, sitting in the chair and sleeping, as it was the middle of the night. He stood by the door, silent. After a while he noticed a tray with food by one of the walls. Almost untouched, meaning that this time workers of the White Tower weren't successful.

Byakuya stared at the back of the chair. His hand subconsciously found itself on his sword as he thought that she was completely defenseless at the moment. He was furious to no end; he hated her for what she did and what she wanted to do. He knew he needed answers, everybody needed them, to understand the situation and to know just what to do and what was the truth.

But they were alone now, he and the girl that wanted to take away the only family he had.

He didn't think twice. With his gaze still fixed on the white chair, Byakuya drew Senbonzakura from its sheath and took one step forward.

If Inoue Orihime was dead, Rukia would be safe.

He took another step and rose his arm.

Someone grabbed it.

Byakuya turned around, his eyes widening at the sight of 10th division captain. They stood in silence; Byakuya narrowing his eyes angrily at the intruder and Hitsugaya watching him calmly, but holding his arm firmly. The black haired shinigami lowered his arm after a while and the shorter one let go of it reluctantly, still staring him in the eyes.

"You're the last person I'd expect to do something like this," he whispered so as not to wake up the girl in the cell. His tone stated clearly that he was disappointed with the captain.

"In my place you'd kill her the moment you saw her," Byakuya replied coldly, but also in a whisper.

Hitsugaya furrowed his eyebrows.

"Maybe," he replied finally, "but you're not me, Kuchiki."

Byakuya turned to the chair again, still angry and willing to continue what was interrupted.

"She's a danger."

"That's still to be decided," the white haired captain replied. "I believe she's fairly innocent."

Byakuya turned to him sharply so that the other stepped back a little. His cold expression disappeared, replaced by a furious stare.

"She wanted to kill Rukia!" he exclaimed, not caring about Orihime's sleep anymore.

After initial shock, Hitsugaya dared to look at the other captain again.

"I find it rather hard to believe," he said and continued, before 6th division captain could interrupt him again. "I know she said that she had wanted to kill Kuchiki-fukutaichou, however I don't know _why_ she said it. It's just not logical for her to kill your sister. They're friends, to the point they risked their lives to save each other in the past. Besides, Inoue wouldn't want to hurt anyone. Wouldn't be able to. Kuchiki, she saved _enemies' lives_ before and you want me to believe she wanted to kill a _friend_? Even her powers have little to do with attacking others. I don't know why she claims she wanted to kill Kuchiki-fukutaichou, but I don't believe it one bit."

Byakuya was glaring at him, but didn't say a thing. Hitsugaya sighed and bit his lower lip.

"We need her to talk and answer our questions. I don't have any evidence that she's innocent other than my theories, but I think you attempted to kill an innocent person."

"Nothing makes sense anymore," the black haired captain spoke after a while. "I don't know what to believe any-"

He didn't finish his sentence as a sudden movement caught both captains' attention. They turned to the chair just in time to see Orihime hastily standing up. She glanced behind her back, at them, and when they understood just what she was up to, it was too late.

They ran to the window a second too late.

She jumped.

Hitsugaya stepped back, his eyes widened in surprise and fear, even more when he realized just how high above the ground the cell was. Byakuya stood at the very end of the floor, his left hand clutching onto the wall and right still with Senbonzakura. He gritted his teeth, not knowing what to do.

The two shinigami stared down as Orihime fell. It was as if everything got in slow motion. They couldn't take their eyes off her form, smaller with every second, with her white prisoner robes floating around her along with her long, beautiful hair. She didn't struggle at all and just fell, head first, her arms spread a bit in an almost welcoming manner.

What they couldn't see were her tears, flowing from her closed eyes, and her light smile as the last thoughts went through her mind.

_I did what you wanted me to, but I can't anymore. I'm sorry._

_Thank you for letting me go._


	15. Assumptions

**_Hello everyone! I hope you'll like this chapter. I know that there may be questions about everything that happens, but yeah... With this chapter, there are only five more left and everything will be explained in the right time. Don't wanna spoil everyhting too soon :) I hope you'll enjoy this story to the very end :)_**

**_Last time: Orihime jumped from her cell and her death brings even more questions to the captains. What conclusions will they make after what had happened?_**

* * *

><p><em>15.<em>

_~ASSUMPTIONS~_

The death of Inoue Orihime, just like the news of her arrest not so long before, was known to whole Seireitei at lightning speed. Just like by the former news, whole Seireitei was horrified. Many still found it hard to believe that _this_ particular girl was the culprit and it made everyone go through her death even harder.

Many questions and theories arose as the public learnt that Inoue Orihime died by suicide. Part of shinigami blamed the authorities, saying they had accused an innocent girl, too weak to bear something like this. Others didn't agree and claimed that she indeed was guilty and just couldn't live with awareness that she had done something so horrible. Whatever people thought, it made the atmosphere in Soul Society all the more tense. Accusations and guesses were multiplying.

Especially Rukia seemed subdued and distant. She still attended the captains' meetings, but limited herself to listening with her eyes downcast. She couldn't come to terms with the fact that her friend, the person she entrusted her life so many times, could have betrayed her in the worst of ways. The sudden news of her death saddened her more than she wanted to show, but one thing she didn't know was that despite her efforts, her sorrow was perfectly visible. The problem was, no one knew what to say or do to comfort her.

The first captains' meeting after Inoue Orihime took her own life started in a chaotic manner. Even if some pretended not to care, the recent happenings took their toll on all of the captains. They kept repeating questions asked in Seireitei: was it _their_ fault that Inoue was dead? Or was she really the culprit? Byakuya and Hitsugaya were immediately asked to recall the events of the previous night, which they did in great detail, not able to forget the sight of the girl falling down. The 6th division captain's sense of righteousness didn't let him skip his motives which led him to the cell, but although it did shake the rest, his move faded into the background compared to what had happened next.

When everybody more or less calmed down, the meeting followed its usual routine and captains started analyzing and discussing recent events, this time the arrest and death of Inoue Orihime.

The 10th division captain stated, just as the night before when talking to Byakuya, that they locked up an innocent person. He then went on to list his reasons and talked about her traits and contribution to saving and developing Soul Society. Surprisingly, no one interrupted till the very end of the speech. When Hitsugaya finished, Hirako sighed and all eyes turned to him.

"If she was really innocent, we'd have to go back to the start."

"Well, we can't be sure she was," Kensei cut in. He still couldn't quite move on after Hisagi's death and although he did rejoin the investigation group, he was more careful than ever. "Everything may have ended last night when she jumped."

"_May_, exactly," Kyouraku spoke from under his hat. "We can't leave the investigation because of a guess. The culprit killed two people and planned killing another. If Inoue was innocent, our enemy is still out there. We need to have things in hand."

The tall white haired captain frowned, but didn't reply. Instead, he looked at Kurotsuchi, who seemed not to listen at all, entirely preoccupied by some papers in front of him. Before Kensei had a chance to tell him to pay attention, the other suddenly looked up and took out a single sheet of paper. He cleared his throat to gather attention.

"This Inoue Orihime," he started, staring at the sheet in his hands with narrowed eyes, "I knew something was wrong with her. Look," here he pointed to one place on the paper, which the gathered recognized to be the list from Hirako's test. "Among 256 people who chose the most popular answers from our test carried out some time ago, there's _Inoue Orihime_."

He threw the sheet at the desk around which everyone was seated and crossed his arms.

"That girl had almost no knowledge about Seireitei or Soul Society on the whole, much less its politics and complicated structure, because what can you expect from a human? But there she is – choosing all the most popular answers, which clearly required such knowledge. Can anybody tell me how's that possible? She couldn't have thought of such answers herself."

No one seemed to have an answer, at which Kurotsuchi only rolled his eyes. A heavy silence followed, and the awareness that they hadn't thought of it earlier made things all the worse.

The quietness of the room made a sudden rustling of paper way louder than it should have been and the captains now turned to Ukitake, the source of the sound.

"Well, since we're mentioning strange things," he said uneasily and looked into his reports again, "there's something we dismissed before, taking it as a result of stress. A week ago, Inoue Orihime's guard committed suicide."

Some gasped, some sighed with resignation or disbelief, while Kurotsuchi laughed humorlessly. Ichigo gritted his teeth but remained silent. He could feel Rukia glance at him and he knew she thought of what he did – if the captains overlooked such things, what more there was to find?

Ukitake placed his papers in a neat pile and looked at Yamamoto-soutaichou seriously.

"Even if so, I don't think Inoue Orihime was the culprit."

Hitsugaya straightened up, feeling better knowing there was someone on his side. Others didn't seem so sure about it though.

"She herself said she _was_ the culprit," Outoribashi, who had been silent during the whole meeting, spoke. The captain of the 13th division frowned.

"She might have as well been manipulated or blackmailed," he replied sternly and immediately and everyone turned to him, shocked.

"This theory creates multiple new possibilities, it's almost going back to the start indeed," Unohana stated, voicing something that everybody already thought.

If what the captain had said was true, the situation would get all the more complicated. Ichigo sighed and looked at Byakuya, who didn't utter a word since talking about last night's events. If Orihime really did everything for someone else…

What substitute shinigami didn't expect was that Byakuya would slam his own reports against the desk. In seconds, when everything discussed occurred to him, his face expression contorted into one of anger. The sudden noise attracted the attention of everyone, but before anyone reacted, Byakuya was already at the door, glaring back at the rest.

"Tomorrow I want to see a list of all people who ever had contact with Inoue," he said and left the room.

Kurotsuchi snorted with anger.

"How can you-"

Ukitake quickly held him back before the captain could do anything and shook his head, telling him not to interfere. The scientist stepped back reluctantly and, to his frustration, Yamamoto agreed with the black haired captain who left.

"Do as Kuchiki says," he required shortly and dismissed everyone. The captains left with mixed feelings, each occupied by their own theories and problems. Comments and short talks could still be heard on the corridors of the building.

Ichigo and Rukia stepped out of the room like everyone else and headed towards Kuchiki mansion, Rukia's new guard following behind them. They both walked silently, deep in thought, until Ichigo decided to speak.

"Don't worry, Rukia," he said and she looked at him. Only now, seeing her so close, he could see how tired she looked. She must have not been able to sleep for days and worry was written all over her face. He was aware she didn't cope well with recent events, but didn't imagine just to what extent.

He stopped and she did the same.

"However complicated it gets and whatever happens, don't worry," Ichigo repeated. "It couldn't be Inoue. It _wasn't_ Inoue, I'll prove it. I'll finish it all soon, I'll find the person who wants to kill you, I promise."

Rukia took notice of his serious tone and decisiveness in his eyes. He smiled at her softly and reassuringly and she, although hesitantly, smiled back, before they resumed their walk to the mansion.


	16. Culprits

**_Hello dear readers! Haven't been there for a really long time... I feel really bad for it, but honestly, I was always so busy... And then exams started.. I'm still in the middle of it all, but not as lost as in the beginning and managed to put some pieces together and finished the whole "Death note" altogether. Yes yes, wrote it all. I know I mentioned 4 chapters, but in the end I decided to divide the remaining material into 2 chapters, that is, there'll be only one more apart from this one. We're getting to the finish and things are getting straight to the answers in the next chapter. I hope you'll enjoy the finale, it was really difficult to write , but I did my best:)_**

**_The last chapter I have already written, just need to type it on my computer. I hope you'll enjoy the story till the end. As always, thanks for all the support :)_**

**_Last time: Captains decide to check the theory about Inoue being manipulated. Will they be able to prove it?_**

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><p><em>16.<em>

_~CULPRITS~_

Just as Byakuya requested, the list of people who had contact with Inoue was created. It consisted of shinigami she knew, mostly from the 4th division, and the prisoners she'd been taking care of. With Rukia, Ichigo and all the captains crossed out, among shinigami almost only those from the 4th division remained, but still the captains concentrated more on the criminals.

Byakuya and Ichigo interrogated the prisoners personally. Inoue didn't take care of the whole prison, so there weren't too many of them. Besides, Byakuya wanted the interrogation to be carried out thoroughly. He was a detailed person and didn't want to miss anything anymore.

Plus, he finally felt he _did something_.

He and Ichigo were sitting at a table in a small room where the criminals were let in one at a time. The orange-haired boy couldn't help but think that not so long before it was Renji who sat beside the captain, not him. Ichigo looked at the files in front of him nervously, but set his mind on finding something that would lead them to the truth behind Inoue's actions.

He glanced at Byakuya; the latter was asking so many questions that after a few hours Ichigo could feel nothing but confusion. The questions were concrete, detailed, and some tricky, and substitute shinigami was impressed that the captain didn't get mixed up in this interrogation and he could still ask those endless questions every person that entered the room and note their answers.

Not that the prisoners had anything interesting to say anyway. They weren't necessarily willing to cooperate and even if, didn't know anything. The interrogation had been going on for hours and nothing worth a second thought came up. With every minute it was more difficult and tiring to listen to the constant flow of negative answers, but neither Ichigo nor Byakuya wanted to give up.

When another prisoner entered the small room, Ichigo couldn't even tell how many criminals he'd questioned already. He didn't even pay much attention when Byakuya read out the name of the stranger – Nanase Kazuya – until he sat down in front of them and said calmly:

"I did it."

Ichigo didn't even see Byakuya's reaction, as he focused entirely on the man sitting across the table. He didn't even look like a serious criminal; he was small and thin, his robes hanging on him loosely. He grew a tangled beard that made him look older than he actually was, yet his eyes already lost the sparkle of the young age that his files indicated. The man looked withdrawn and his voice was way too calm for someone who had just confessed to have committed such a serious crime.

Even if Byakuya was shocked by the sudden confession or full of hatred towards the culprit, he didn't show it.

"Why are you saying it straight away?" the captain asked instead, clearly curious.

When Nanase replied, his voice didn't shake one bit.

"It's become troublesome. It didn't bring me as much satisfaction as I thought it would, it's not worth it anymore."

Ichigo stood up abruptly from his seat with a furious glint in his eyes, not caring that he knocked off half of the files and notes from the desk.

"_Didn't bring you satisfaction_? Are you kidding me? Are you damn crazy?! You killed-"

Byakuya outstretched his hand, stopping the substitute shinigami. Ichigo turned his enraged gaze towards him, but the black-haired captain was still concentrated on the criminal in the room.

"I want you to answer a few questions," he said calmly. Ichigo, ignored, sat back in his chair, still glaring at Byakuya. The said captain only glanced at the information about the currently interrogated criminal before his eyes met those of Nanase again.

The man only nodded, not a trace of anxiety within his dark orbs.

The black-haired captain thought for a while, not really knowing how to start.

"You say you're the culprit, but you were in the prison all the time," the man started carefully, "was it really Inoue who did all the work?"

Ichigo winced at the question, but Nanase didn't even hesitate to answer.

"Yes."

"Why did she do it?"

The interrogated criminal replied in the same calm manner as before.

"I threatened her. Regardless of how strong you think she was, she had a few stupidly weak points. Like her loved ones, for example." Byakuya narrowed his eyes, while Ichigo's widened in shock and realization. "She was a good girl, after all. After some time she would do _everything_ I told her to, believing that she didn't have a choice. It seems that it became too much to bear for her, though, since we all know what happened later."

Ichigo gritted his teeth in frustration at the other's words, but knew there was nothing he could do. They had to learn the whole story.

The 6th division's captain noted something down, intently observed by Nanase. In a couple of minutes he confirmed that the criminal was behind the strange notes Rukia received, both Renji's and Hisagi's deaths, that he had helped Inoue with Shinji's test and was responsible for the chaos in Seireitei Bulletin.

The atmosphere in the room became unbearably tense. Ichigo didn't utter a word ever since his outburst and his eyes were burning holes in the papers, refusing to even look at the man sitting across. In the meantime Byakuya also lost a bit of his composure; he still forced his voice to be toneless, but his eyes literally screamed he was far from calm. Only Nanase Kazuya seemed oddly relaxed, answering all questions without a hint of what he felt and seemingly oblivious to the furious aura which Byakuya and Ichigo emanated.

There was a moment of horrible silence, when the black-haired shinigami was finishing writing. When he finally noted everything, he lifted his head and met the criminal's gaze once again.

"What made you do it all? What was your motive?" Byakuya asked. Ichigo also lifted his gaze at the question, looking for any hint of emotion on Nanase's face, but finding none. The prisoner only sighed, gathering his thoughts.

"I spent the last eighty years in the prison," he admitted, still exceptionally calm. One glance towards the files told Ichigo the man wasn't lying. "No matter how many years we live, it's still much, too much to spend alone, in the confinement of a small cell."

"You deserved it," Ichigo interrupted, unable to keep his thoughts to himself any longer. Byakuya shot him a disapproving glare, while Nanase only smiled, faintly and without humor, but it was still the first change in his face since he entered the room.

"Probably," he replied. "Doesn't change the fact I hate you all."

The 6th division captain checked something in the papers in front of him.

"You were involved in a plot against Ukitake Juushirou," he stated, narrowing his eyes at the unfazed prisoner. The other nodded and something dark appeared in his eyes as he looked down, at the desk.

"I was in his division and hated him. He was always so firm in his rules and beliefs, and because of that, didn't approve of, let's say, 'dirty' methods. He didn't understand that sometimes it was inevitable, necessary. He wasn't flexible. Didn't like battle, didn't approve of going a bit 'further' than he allowed. He just didn't understand, didn't _want_ to understand. Being in his division was suffocating for people like me, who understood. He was blocking us; blocking Soul Society. We finally decided to get rid of him, for the benefit of everyone, but they caught us. And didn't understand."

Nanase made a short pause, leaving Ichigo and Byakuya to their thoughts. Thousands of them swirled within substitute shinigami's head. He simply couldn't comprehend the hatred that the criminal felt towards Ukitake. He was one of the captains Ichigo respected the most, and the orange-haired boy heartily admired everything Nanase despised in the white-haired man. He wanted to voice his thoughts, disagree with the prisoner, but Nanase already resumed his story.

"They locked me up in a cell and I dwelled on my hatred for years, living off the rumors about Soul Society that my guardians sometimes shared with me. I wasn't stupid; when Inoue Orihime visited me for the first time, I knew she was a friend of Kuchiki Rukia, and that Kuchiki was the lieutenant in _his_ division. The idea was bound to come, sooner or later."

Nanase ran a hand through his hair. His eyes became cold, his voice strained, as he continued.

"I knew he'd be devastated if she was dead, I knew it'd bring chaos to Seireitei, I was just… really excited to do that, to show them who was right."

Ichigo and Byakuya listened intently, surprised that he explained and told them everything, and that he finally showed his emotions.

"It turned out to be way more difficult than I thought it to be. Too many people got in the way, too many decisions that I didn't like were made, too many things didn't go as planned. The whole thing incredibly dragged on in time and I wasn't any closer to my revenge. The excitement went away, everything got burdensome. Inoue became doubtful, frightened by everything she had done. I was sick of this; I felt like it wasn't worth it. When I heard of her death, the last remainings of my motivation left just like that. I decided to finish this; I gave up."

A heavy silence followed. Ichigo glanced at the man in front of him, who suddenly looked incredibly fragile. Substitute shinigami frowned at the drastic change, but no matter how pained the other seemed to be, his principles were still wrong and he still did horrible things.

"Why are you telling us this?" Byakuya's voice brought Ichigo back to reality. The black-haired captain set his piercing eyes on the criminal. Nanase looked down again.

"I…" he started and bit his lower lip. A while passed before he continued. "Now when I think about this, I guess it all was wrong from the start. I mean, from the start I only wanted to eliminate Ukitake, not Kuchiki. Not Abarai, Hisagi, Inoue… It went too far. _I_ went too far, even I know that."

He paused again, before he took a big breath and looked at Byakuya and Ichigo.

"I deserve to be punished."

…

Rukia was wandering around the garden and taking care of every plant, as always, letting her thoughts wander as well. It was a fairly warm and calm morning and she took more time than needed, only to make her stay in the garden longer.

When she finally finished her work, she started putting things she used back in their proper places. Her thoughts went to the day before, when Ichigo told her that one of the criminals was the culprit, the person who wanted to kill her. She learned from Byakuya that he was placed in the Palace of Remorseful Sin till the verdict. He didn't have to tell her it was almost certain he'd be executed. She knew.

Rukia remembered the mix of relief and uncertainty she felt when she heard the news. It wasn't Inoue. It wasn't anyone she knew and trusted. And the person was caught, won't harm anyone else.

At the same time she was curious, or maybe also worried, about him – this Nanase Kazuya – especially after she heard his history.

The black-haired girl still had those thoughts in mind when she entered the mansion. It was still quiet and empty, but the tension that lay here for months was gone – Rukia was sure everything was going to be alright.

Maybe that's why she was so shocked and frightened when an apple bumped into her leg and she turned around only to see even more apples in a basket on the table.

…

Ichigo was plodding along everyone else, not in the mood to admire the views of Soul Society beneath him. The path leading up the mountain wasn't very steep, so he could indulge in his thoughts.

Just few days before he talked with Riruka and told her what the situation was like and he couldn't forget the meeting.

Riruka voiced all the thoughts he wanted not to think about, all the thoughts he wanted to store in some part of his brain he'd never come back to. She voiced all his _doubts_ about the culprit.

The orange-haired boy couldn't forget how she furrowed her eyebrows as he was telling her about Nanase Kazuya, how she scrunched her nose whenever she didn't like some part of the story and how she crossed her arms when he finished and looked at him with eyes full of doubt. The same doubt Ichigo found in himself when he came back home from the interrogation and looked in the mirror, thinking over everything Nanase said.

"Inoue also said she was the culprit," Riruka said.

He knew that. Inoue confessed what she did, yet there was still far more to discover.

"I don't like his story," Riruka said.

He couldn't agree more. Although overall it seemed fine, something in Nanase's words, or maybe in Nanase himself, was not right. Ichigo couldn't quite place it, but he couldn't shake off the feeling that there was something off about the culprit's story. There were too many different emotions within him during the interrogation that he didn't even think about it, but now, as he cooled down, for some reason he just couldn't bring himself to believe the criminal entirely.

During their short talk the Fullbringer pointed out all Ichigo's doubts, and he couldn't stop thinking about the case ever since.

Substitute shinigami had hoped there'd be further investigation to prove they weren't mistaken once again. The things had already gone too far and they needed to be cautious and check everything thoroughly. Then Rukia found those apples in the mansion and all plans were thrown out of the window.

_Apples mean your death_, they all still remembered and although everything inside Ichigo screamed against it, he was slowly walking up Soukyoku, where Nanase Kazuya was to be executed.

To finish everything.

…

It was windy and the air was filled with flapping of shinigami robes. Apart from Ichigo, Rukia, Nanase Kazuya and the guards, only captains and lieutenants were on Soukyoku. The rest of souls were down in Seireitei and Rukongai and although the date of the execution was supposed to be a secret, everybody knew and it was the major subject of talks in Soul Society.

Rukia stood between her brother and a guard, who was constantly scanning their surroundings just in case. Shinigami formed two lines with the criminal and his guards in the centre, and right in front of the girl was Ichigo. Their eyes met and he sent her a reassuring smile, but the black-haired lieutenant could tell his mind was somewhere else. She wondered were, but smiled back nevertheless.

Meanwhile, substitute shinigami was concentrated on Nanase and observed the skinny man looking calmly at one of the guards, who was preparing his zanpakutou for the execution. Nanase was supposed to be beheaded. The criminal seemed to have already accepted his fate and only a faint hint of sadness was visible in his eyes. Another wave of doubt washed over Ichigo and he bit his lip, trying to push unwanted thoughts out of his head. They kept coming back.

Finally, Yamamoto-soutaichou stepped out of line and faced the criminal. The attention of the gathered shinigami immediately turned to their leader and if there were any talks or whispers, now a heavy silence fell upon the place. Nanase Kazuya didn't dare lift his gaze when Yamamoto turned in his direction and knocked with his cane. Everybody straightened their backs. Captain commander proceeded to stating what the criminal was guilty of in a confident, clear voice. Rukia glanced at Ichigo. He was gritting his teeth, looking conflicted, and she quickly lowered her gaze.

Yamamoto became silent and the girl had to force herself to watch as Nanase knelt down, head hung low, while the guard beside him already prepared his sword.

She couldn't look at the face of the kneeling man, but she could see the firm expressions of people around her. She saw sadness in her captain's face, Ichigo's conflicted look and she looked back at the form awaiting the sword. Rukia let out a shaky breath and didn't even try to calm her racing heart. She knew it was the end and watched intently the scene before her. Relief and nervousness mixed with some strange fear and sudden doubt as she observed the man breathing deeply one last time.

The black-haired girl closed her eyes, unable to watch anymore, and instantly felt that something wasn't right.

She heard shocked gasps and shouts and she thought that the execution must have been carried out, but when she opened her eyes she noticed that the blood which covered the ground was too close to her to be the criminal's. Then, just in the moment she realized that shinigami were shouting _her_ name, those shouts started fading away. And were suddenly replaced with a horrible pain.

She was too astonished to scream and only her eyes widened as she fell to the ground, suddenly realizing that all the blood around was flowing out of _her_. After initial shock the voices started coming back to her, and in a desperate attempt to grasp the situation Rukia looked up behind her.

The world stopped when she saw as her guard with a zanpakutou dripping with blood discarded his coat.

It was Aizen.


	17. Goodbye

_17._

_~GOODBYE~_

He hurried through the sky, as fast as his shunpo allowed him.

Slightly out of breath, he kept his eyes fixed on the person running away from him.

Aizen.

Just the name made him clench his fists and his eyes light up with fury.

Aizen.

Just the thought that the shinigami was free made hundreds of questions appear in his head, made him confused, didn't let him believe that what had happened minutes before was real.

That Rukia was bleeding to death among the captains and he, Ichigo, was chasing Aizen Sousuke above the streets of Seireitei.

Everything happened so quickly it felt like a blur.

Rukia was stabbed, suddenly Aizen was there, chaos ensued and in the uproar and confusion Ichigo found himself giving chase after the former captain of 5th division.

The _real_ culprit.

His doubts about Nanase were right.

His faith in Inoue was right.

So when Aizen finally stopped, somewhere in the middle of woods in Rukongai, the orange-haired boy faced him with nothing but rage, hatred and determination to get answers for every question, and to destroy the very man in front of him.

Aizen narrowed his eyes at the fuming substitute shinigami, but didn't lose even a bit of his usual confidence. Instead, he asked nonchalantly:

"You're wondering how, aren't you?"

Ichigo barely refrained himself from attacking the other. Everything boiled inside him when he heard the question, but the truth was he needed the answer to it.

"If you calm down, I'll tell you how," Aizen spoke suddenly and the substitute shinigami's eyes widened. He didn't know how to respond, and the former captain found it amusing. "Now, don't be so shocked. I have time. Besides," Aizen smiled to himself, "doesn't the villain always share his plan with the hero?"

Ichigo gritted his teeth at the other's mocking tone. It seemed like Aizen didn't consider him a threat and the orange-haired boy couldn't stand it. Wasn't he powerful? Didn't he defeat Aizen before?

Yet he only clenched his fists even more, to the point that it hurt, ready to listen. Aizen knew Ichigo wouldn't harm him before the end of his story.

Aizen only thought for a while, trying to grasp the whole story, before he turned back to Ichigo and looked him in the eyes confidently.

"You see, Kurosaki Ichigo, when you're in prison, you suddenly have much more time to yourself than you used to. It's actually pretty dangerous, I must admit, to sit in your cell for years and just let your thoughts wander, while not having anyone to talk about them with. I've seen people dreaming about how it'd be to be free, only to start believing in their silly imaginations. The overwhelming darkness that rules there doesn't really help, you know, you desperately need something to do, simply not to get crazy."

Ichigo looked at Aizen unsurely. He thought that he saw a faint sad smile on the other's face, but he immediately shook the impression off when Aizen proceeded to talk about his way to prevent the madness.

"Luckily, I found myself an interesting thing to do. After some time in my cell I noticed I could still feel my zanpakutou. I found out I could still communicate with it. It hadn't been placed somewhere far away and this," the former captain smirked, "was your biggest mistake."

The orange-haired boy narrowed his eyes, waiting for an explanation, which Aizen gave him quickly.

"Hypnosis."

He laughed at Ichigo's confused face expression.

"That's the ability of my sword, and that's what it taught me during those two years, hypnosis. No one suspected that I communicated with Kyouka Suigetsu regularly, and in the end I could manipulate _anyone_ within my sight." Aizen spread his arms in an inviting gesture. "Admit, Kurosaki Ichigo, there's only one thought that can come to mind in such situation."

Ichigo had to admit.

"To escape."

Aizen nodded with a smile. His behavior irritated Ichigo greatly, but the boy had to endure it.

"Luckily, I was among the prisoners that Inoue Orihime took care of," the other continued. "It was really easy to put her under my hypnosis and manipulate her. Everyone around trusted her and let her go wherever I wanted." He chuckled. "She was an exceptionally useful tool."

A moment later he was held firmly by the collar by no other but the furious substitute shinigami. Ichigo was shaking from anger; he wanted to get rid of Aizen right there and now, to make him pay, for everything he'd done to Inoue, for how he spoke about her, and for the amusement that appeared in his eyes when he watched the other in such state.

But Ichigo could only let out a frustrated breath as Aizen calmly shook his hand off, with enough force to put some distance between the two. He had to listen to the whole story, to know the whole truth.

And he could only grit his teeth again when Aizen shook his head disapprovingly.

"You should really try to abstain, Kurosaki Ichigo," he commented with a sigh. It seemed he found it very amusing to watch the other struggle with his emotions. "Are you angry about Inoue Orihime? Wasn't it her that sent notes to Kuchiki? Wasn't it her that set up the trap in the mansion, killing Abarai Renji? Wasn't it her that killed Hisagi Shuuhei? It was, so-"

"Only because you hypnotized her!"

Aizen only chuckled again.

"I won't deny that, if that pleases you."

There was a moment of silence before he resumed his story.

"I can also admit that her guard was hypnotized too. That's why Inoue Orihime's reports never stated she had done something suspicious, and I could freely make her do whatever I wanted without the risk of getting caught. Thus, she could set me free, while everyone in Soul Society was wondering how to protect Kuchiki." Aizen eyed Ichigo. "It was an interesting show, whole this murder-of-Kuchiki thing. Drew attention perfectly, leaving me and my escape all to myself."

Ichigo couldn't even look at him anymore.

"There was one thing that didn't go as planned, though," the other started again, with a sigh. "Our beloved Inoue Orihime broke down one day. She couldn't bear the awareness of what she had done and told Kuchiki. I must say I was really surprised she was strong enough to break my hypnosis. Luckily, earlier I managed to make her change the list of the prisoners she took care of so that no one suspected me. Plus, for some reason, Inoue Orihime turned out to be loyal enough to jump out that window and not spill any secrets."

Ichigo kept looking down, barely refraining himself from doing anything to the man in front of him, whereas Aizen watched the other closely, observing every reaction to his words. His voice was the only sound beside occasional chirping of birds and it made Aizen want to laugh, at how the world was so oblivious to what was happening.

"I needed someone else to, let's say, 'work' for me," he continued nevertheless. "I even prepared someone before Inoue Orihime betrayed me, just in case. Lucky me, right? Nanase Kazuya seemed perfect. If he was caught, he had a great cause to try to kill Kuchiki, and his will was really weak. You know why, Kurosaki Ichigo?"

He didn't know.

"Because, despite everything I told him to say, he gave up revenge _years ago_. He didn't have any goal anymore, any motivation to do anything, so I manipulated him easily. He set me free and found my zanpakutou, then confessed he was the culprit in a good moment and went on to be executed. Of course I just had to see it, the final of my beautiful plan, but," he smiled the moment Ichigo's eyes finally met his, "there was yet another thing I didn't take into account."

Substitute shinigami's eyes widened in realization as Aizen's smile grew more evil.

"The temptation of completing what my fake notes started was too strong."

And Ichigo drew his sword at him with all his might.

The other immediately took out his Kyouka Suigetsu and in a matter of seconds the two men found themselves in a fierce battle. Series of powerful attacking and defending continued for countless minutes, but no one seemed to get the upper hand.

Ichigo, furious, was preparing to strike once again when suddenly, though because of the great distance they barely felt it, a single reiatsu disappeared.

The two opponents stopped in their tracks, pure shock written all over Ichigo's face and an ugly smile making its way to the face of Aizen.

"Oh? Kurosaki Ichigo, did you feel it?" the former captain asked in a mocking tone. "Is it just me or did Kuchiki's reiatsu-"

Suddenly, he couldn't speak anymore. Suddenly, he lost his breath. Suddenly, all was a blur, and the last thing he saw were Kurosaki Ichigo's mad eyes and his lips, saying something like "you shouldn't have gotten distracted" coldly, and then, when Aizen felt a sword being pulled out of him and he finally understood that Ichigo cut him, he was already falling down at a rapid speed.

He could only wonder how come he didn't sense that Soi Fon's division was after them all the time and waited in the woods to catch him.

Things didn't go as planned.

Ichigo, however, didn't even look back after he stabbed Aizen; he rushed back to Soukyoku, because maybe it wasn't true. Maybe…

…maybe Rukia wasn't dying.

…

She was the first to notice his form in the sky and found enough strength to smile faintly. Judging by the desperate faces that surrounded her she figured out there was nothing they could do, the wound was too deep, so she was immensely glad he made it. She didn't understand fully what was going on, what Aizen was doing there, why everything was so chaotic, but she didn't care anymore. She didn't have much time, she knew, and she only wanted to see him just once again.

"Ichigo…" she whispered weakly.

She ignored how everybody around her turned to her and started talking all at once, and instead focused on the person she saw in the sky. He was getting closer and closer. When he finally landed beside her she noticed how pained he looked and that tears were already in his eyes, but she still relaxed. He was with her.

"Rukia," Ichigo said softly, "we can still do something…"

He could see she already started to vanish, but he refused to admit it. Rukia only shook her head with difficulty and raised her hand a little; Ichigo helped her place it on his cheek.

"Don't cry," she smiled. "I'll be fine. Did you get him?"

Substitute shinigami nodded.

"That's good to hear."

No one interrupted as they simply looked at each other in the last moments of the 13th division lieutenant. She was almost completely gone when Ichigo hugged her one last time.

"I'm so sorry," he managed to say. "I'll miss you so much."

The raven-haired girl only buried her face in the crook of his neck and whispered:

"I'll be fine, Ichigo, I'll be fine…"

And when the last pieces of her disappeared in the sky, all the tears he stopped from falling since she asked him to broke through.

…

After Soi Fon's division captured Aizen, he was placed in a cell where reiatsu couldn't be used in any way. Captains already started talks about improving Soul Society's system not to let something like this happen again. Nanase Kazuya also went back to prison, but only after the captains had broken the hypnosis. A new lieutenant for the 13th division was yet to be appointed.

Days passed since the events at Soukyoku had taken place and Soul Society was slowly falling into its usual routine back, with everybody following their schedules again, this time not fearing to be the next target of "the culprit". News of the truth were a shock, but it was quickly replaced by utter sadness over everything that happened because of it. The grim atmosphere that hung over both Seireitei and Rukongai for the past months only deepened and was rather bound to stay there for a lot longer. It was difficult to smile, as it was impossible to forget the shinigami that Soul Society lost.

To move on after something like this, it needed more time.

Ichigo was meandering among the narrow streets of Seireitei, slowly main his way towards the Senkaimon. He still couldn't collect himself after what had happened. He couldn't believe he'd never see Rukia again, he still couldn't believe he lost Renji, Orihime, Hisagi… And yet, he now had to face his friends back in Karakura and tell them that Rukia…

He squeezed his eyes shut. She told him not to cry.

When Ichigo reopened his eyes he realized he was on Kuchiki property, but before he had time to tell himself off and leave, he caught a glimpse of no other than Byakuya.

The orange-haired boy frowned a little with concern.

"I could only watch her disappear," the captain told him once, shortly after Rukia's death. "I couldn't fulfill my promise to Hisana."

Ichigo had never seen him this sad before.

"I could only watch my sister disappear," he said, and his voice was laced with too much sorrow to take.

With the memory fresh in mind, Ichigo took his eyes off Byakuya and ran to the Senkaimon. Every second spent in _her_ world, in _Rukia's_ world, made it harder to leave.

…

Riruk glanced at the note she received a couple of days before and put it back in her pocket. With a heavy sigh, she straightened up, looking around at the view of the Onose river. The note was written by Ichigo; it shortly explained the situation in Soul Society. Substitute shinigami also asked whether Riruka could help him tell his friends about everything; he was afraid he couldn't do it alone.

That's why the Fullbringer was waiting for him to come back to Gensei, because of course she'd help. She didn't know Rukia, or any other shinigami, that well, but she could imagine how difficult all of it was to handle for Ichigo.

So she waited.

Suddenly, the Senkaimon appeared and Ichigo stepped out of it. Riruka pursed her lips; he looked worse than she expected. The orange-haired boy looked tired, as if he didn't sleep well for the past days, his eyes held only grief and sorrow.

When he noticed Riruka he forced a faint smile, but she knew better.

So when she hugged him the next moment, he suddenly found himself falling into her warm, inviting embrace, just like Rukia did a couple of days before.

"You did everything you could," Riruka whispered softly. "It's over now. It won't happen ever again."

Ichigo only nodded.

"She'll be fine, Ichigo, she'll be fine," the Fullbringer continued, unconsciously repeating _her_ words. "You'll be fine."

He hugged her more tightly, whispering:

"Thank you."

His gaze wandered forward, to a lone figure in the distance, an old fruits-selling woman that didn't even notice them, too occupied by a magazine, and as he recognized apples somewhere on her stand, he thought that they really yielded a good crop this year.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hello everyone! I still have those big problems when I'm writing the last Author's Note... never know how to start...<strong>_

_**Well. It's been a long time since I started this story and now it comes to an end. It was amazing to write, really, and I'm really thankful for every favourite, follow, review... For every view, really. Thank you, people! I wouldn't be here without you! It's a great feeling to see that someone likes the story, is interested in it, it really is, and thank you for all that once again.**_

_**I hope you enjoyed this, from the beginning to the end, and that I didn't disappoint you too much on the way :)**_

_**By the way, Happy Lunar New Year everyone!**_

_**~Huusina**_


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